Brief

Menus with Personality: A Fresh Take Each Year

Designing annual dinner menus for the Society of Bacchus, Philadelphia, is one of those rare projects that’s both familiar and new each time. These two recent events offered the perfect opportunity to blend tradition with tailored design, drawing inspiration from each venue’s atmosphere and identity.

The challenge—and the joy—is in balancing the elegance of fine wines with the festive tone of the evening, all while honoring the brand and ambiance of the restaurant hosting the event. For each menu, I started with my usual method: pulling imagery and colors from the restaurant’s website, identifying their typography, and weaving those elements into a design that feels custom-fit to the space.

This year’s menus feature sprigs of olives and rich, appetizing tones—visuals that nod to the evening’s culinary indulgence while suggesting the quiet elegance of a well-paired experience. The result is more than a menu: it’s a small, tactile piece of the night’s story.