How Do I Make A Digital Menu Card

Making a digital menu card requires software like AIScreen Canvas and hardware like a TV screen. Digital menu boards refer to electronic versions of printed menus. Menu design is important because digital menu boards drive almost 68% of customers to purchase displayed menu items as researched by FedEx survey, Standout Signs Contribute to Sales.

This step-by-step guide will show you how to create a digital menu card, especially using AIScreen Canvas, and shares important menu card design tips. But first, let’s understand what a digital menu card is. Let’s dive in.

How to Make a Digital Menu Card in 5 Steps

Making a digital menu card in 5 steps is easy if you can utilize professionally designed templates to showcase visually appealing menus promoting delicious dishes.

The National Restaurant Association found that restaurants using digital menus reduce printing costs by up to 80% and improve update speed by 90%.

Restaurant owners can create different menus utilizing customizable templates, such as lunch, dinner, and breakfast menus. However, one needs access to the right tools to create your own digital menu boards while saving money and fostering the restaurant’s success. Tools like Canva and AIScreen Canvas prove handly.

Here’s our 5-step guide to creating a digital menu card for your business with AIScreen Canvas:

Step 1: Choose the Right Platform or Tool

Choose the right platform or tool. Restaurants can leverage various design tools to create dynamic digital menu cards, from DIY design tools like Canva to AIScreen Canvas for designing professional digital menu cards.

Customize any menu template with realistic images, add up-to-date product details, and explore various menu sizes to create stunning digital menus. You can even incorporate social media feeds in your menu content strategy and upload own photos.

• AIScreen Canvas stands out because you don’t need a professional designer to create menus for your restaurant while using it.
• Furthermore, manage content remotely and deliver timely content to screens connected to AIScreen Canvas.
• Incorporate brand colors, logos, and backgrounds to personalize menu digital boards. Update pricing and menu options whenever necessary.

Step 2: Design Your Menu Template

Design your menu template from scratch or customize an existing template with AIScreen’s menu maker. Restaurant owners can customize digital menu templates to optimize menu design for enhanced readability and display attention-grabbing digital signs.

Canvas menu maker simplifies creating digital boards for displaying menus. It finds users the right menu template with optimal spacing to create an engaging restaurant menu. Customize menu design with a simple drag-and-drop tool to keep the digital display optimally visible from any viewing distance.

• Unlike physical menus, menus created with AIScreen Canvas are hosted on a decentralized cloud platform and can be updated from any location, at any time.
• Select a menu design for, say, “grill,” “pizza,” “burger,” “snacks,” and “seasonal offer” and add/remove menu items, adjust colors, and upload images using AIScreen Canvas.
• Save your menu design as a PNG or JPEG file or deploy it to your network of displays with a multi-screen digital signage platform like AIScreen.

Step 3: Add Menu Content

Adding your menu content involves incorporating menu items, descriptions, and pricing in a visually engaging and legible way. Organize your menu layout logically so that customers find it easy to navigate.

• This includes categorizing menu items, such as Appetizers, Mains, Desserts, etc., and using similar font, size, and spacing for all your dishes.
• Upload realistic, easily recognizable images of your dishes that encourage impulse buying and quick decision-making.

Step 4: Customize Your Digital Menu

Customize your digital menu is about personalization. Personalized branding is achieved by consistently utilizing branding elements like the restaurant’s logo, fonts, and color scheme.

• AIScreen Canvas helps create personalized menus in just a few clicks by incorporating logos and photos into menu templates to personalize branding.
• Add relevant menu items to your selected layout and upload catchy descriptions, QR codes, and other details like prices in matching fonts and brand colors.

Step 5: Publish and Display Your Digital Menu

Publish and display your electronic menu on digital displays using a digital signage platform. Before publishing your digital menu, utilize the previewing option to look for errors in your designs and ensure they carry updated information.

• Save your menu design to the desired playlist in your digital signage manager account and click the three dots next to the design file to publish your digital menu.
• Schedule content to play during a specified time slot and your menu content will automatically broadcast and switch to a different menu at the appointed time.

Digital Menu Card Design Tips

Digital menu card design tips are essential. If you’re starting with a PDF and need to edit it, follow the step-by-step instructions in how to edit a digital menu board PDF to update and optimize your menu for seamless integration into your signage system.

A study by Seoul National University found that placing high-margin items in the top-left or top-center areas increases the likelihood of customer selection by up to 35%.

Implementing design tips for digital menus listed below helps create eye-catching and dynamic restaurant menus that diners love engaging with, leaving a lasting impression on guests. So, save your designs from poor formatting and ensure consistent branding to attract customers toward profitable dishes and offers by adapting these digital menu card design tips:

Tip 1: Add Color to Enhance Visual Appeal

Adding color to enhance visual appeal is a key design tip for menu cards. A grid layout categorizes dishes and diners find it easy to navigate. Vibrant colors are attention-grabbing and elevate the legibility of digital signs in bright and dark spaces.

Follow the Golden Triangle Rule while engineering digital menu designs. This includes dividing your layout into 3 sections: top, middle, and bottom. Korean research study encourages keeping high-margin food items in the top section so that they’re the first thing eyes see and speed up purchasing decisions.

With AIScreen Canvas, you do not need a graphic designer to create professional electronic menus that use the right proportion of color and images to draw attention to high-profit foods and combos. Here’s what you need to know about colors:

• Colors mold customer behavior and evoke powerful emotions. Therefore, colors should reflect your branding and vision, so try using three primary colors.
• Grab customers’ attention to specific dishes and offerings by strategically using colors. Use the right contrast to differentiate different items.
• A dark screen or dark-colored digital signage menu boards suit a white wall. Similarly, a brightly colored restaurant wall blends perfectly with a white menu board.

Tip 2: Use Video and Movement to Capture Attention

Using video content and movement to capture attention to digital menu cards helps draw customers’ attention instantly. Human eyes are wired to catch motion. Printed menus can’t display a video of a burger dripping juice but digital menu boards can, so use videos and motion graphics.

A Nielsen study showed that digital signage with video content captures 400% more views than static content.

This adds to the visual appeal of digital signage menus. In fact, mouthwatering graphics encourage impulse purchases and stimulate appetite.

• Incorporating food videos and animations influences customer behavior and choices, and gently guides diners to high-margin items.
• Motion graphics prove handy in showcasing behind-the-scene videos showing chefs preparing specific dishes.
• Strategically placing videos elevates the dining experience and drives more sales, revenue, and profits for your restaurant.

Tip 3: Choose Fonts for Readability and Consistency

Choosing fonts for readability and consistency is essential to optimize digital menu boards for better readability and consistent branding. This doesn’t just include using food photos to promote the restaurant’s offerings.

Studies from the UX Collective report that limiting your design to 2-3 font types improves comprehension and brand consistency.

Fonts are equally important for catchy headings and descriptions to stand out prominently.

• The ideal font for digital menus is Sans-serif. Keep font colors bright and use large font sizes to improve the visibility of menu content.
• Avoid multiple fonts to simplify things. Instead, focus on viewing distance when choosing fonts. However, use different font sizes for headlines and body text.
• Sans-serif fonts are good for legibility, so opt for Arial or Helvetica. Use contrasting colors to differentiate text from the background.

Tip 4: Encourage Action to Drive Sales

Encourage action to drive sales, such as “Try it now!” or “Order here” boost engagement, and drive sales. Encourage guests to scan QR codes to get discount coupons. This is how interactive menu boards promote customer engagement.

Keep call-to-action prompts engaging, not always sales-driven. Ideally, include a call to action to customers after they finish their meal or while customers are in the queue. This could be as simple as encouraging them to follow your restaurant on social media.

• Use a call to action that encourages prompt response because it’s urgent. For example, show timed offers so guests better be quick to avail of special offers.
• Don’t use multiple calls to action. This will confuse your customers and hurt sales. Doing it even goes against brand guidelines and restaurant decor.

Tip 5: Use High-Quality Images to Tempt Customers

Use high-quality images to temp customers. However, what restaurants usually do, is use stock images. This creates a void between your customers and the products displayed on restaurant menus.

A study from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab revealed that including high-quality food imagery increases perceived menu quality by 27% and appetite appeal by 23%.

• Imagery should reflect actual foods and beverages. Photograph your own dishes in natural daylight if you want no shadows due to flash.
• Take photographs from multiple angles. See, take photos from above, and compare them with images clicked from a lower angle. See which looks better.
• If you use stock photos, make sure you’re using the right pixels and high-quality images for digital menu boards.

Tip 6: Optimize Layout by Adding Extra Space

Optimize the layout by adding extra white space to ensure a clean digital menu board design. This will de-clutter your design and make it user-friendly. Multiple food items are difficult to fit in the limited restaurant menu board space. Research reveals that readability improves by 30% with enough white space.

But if you don’t want your digital menu board to be overcrowded, add enough white on both sides. If that isn’t possible, utilize a cutting-edge feature of digital signage software like AIScreen to split your screen and add a few items in one section and others in another. Or, consider using Google Slides to rotate or run a slideshow of menu items.

• Keep digital menu boards minimal to avoid clutter. In case, your menu items are many, incorporate white space around each item to ensure easy readability.
• Leverage screen zoning to showcase multiple menus on digital menu boards. This will declutter the menu and improve navigation.
• Avoid overwhelming diners with too much information. Incorporate extra space so viewers can easily consume information.

Create Stunning Digital Menu Cards with AIScreen’s Easy-to-Use Platform!

Deploy digital menus to elevate the dining experience with AIScreen. Leverage our pre-designed, 1,500 templates to create digital menu cards instantly. You’ll find templates for every type of restaurant, from cafes to QSRs and food items.

AIScreen Canvas is a robust editing tool for designing digital menu cards. Users can drag and drop images, resize and customize photos, and add interactive elements for simplified digital menu board navigation.

Get started today with AIScreen’s digital signage platform and book a 14-day free trial to create stunning digital menu cards!

FAQs

Do I need special software to create a digital menu card?

Yes. You need special software to create a digital menu card. AIScreen is the preferred digital menu board software that hundreds of restaurant owners use to create digital menu boards.

Can I update my digital menu card in real-time?

Yes, you can update digital menu cards in real-time with AIScreen’s centralized, cloud-based digital menu board software. Users can remotely update menu board content like prices, menu items, and promotions.

How do I ensure my digital menu card is user-friendly?

To ensure your digital menu card is user-friendly, use a clean and simple digital menu board layout prioritizing high-margin items. Incorporating interactive elements enhances the user-friendliness of digital menu boards.

What screen size is best for displaying digital menu cards?

The screen size best for displaying digital menu cards is a 43-inch to 55-inch display with 1024 x 768 pixels resolution. However, note that screen size varies depending on room space and number of menu items.

Can I use videos or animations on my digital menu card?

Yes, you can use videos and animations on your digital menu card to boost customer engagement. Motion graphics draw attention instantly and boost sales while improving customer experience.