Drinks Menu: Branding & Illustration
University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education & Hotel, Summer 2025
This Georgia Center project focused on creating menus for assorted beverages themed to both of the building’s restaurant outlets. While one of them followed existing branding, the other presented an opportunity to kick off a new visual style entirely.
Menu Design
Initial Brief
When I received the initial job request, I was given three things: a comprehensive list of every beverage a guest could possibly order in both Georgia Center restaurants, a vintage-styled room service menu from a Hilton in San Francisco, and permission to have a little fun with the design.
I was already discussing the possibility of rebranding the Bulldog Bistro to create a more casual, retro vibe compared to the Savannah Room’s classy upscale dining, so getting the go-ahead to be creative here was just what I needed to kick off a new visual style.
The existing Bulldog Bistro branding was functional, but was a stopgap measure created by the last graphic designer and wasn't quite as cohesive as it could have been. The "classy-casual" vibe with the chalkboard background placed the Bistro visual identity a bit too close to the Savannah Room's upscale style.
The room service menu provided by the client as design inspiration. This, combined with ongoing discussion about rebranding the Bulldog Bistro, helped start exploration of a new, retro-styled Bistro.
A (New) Old Bistro Style
Taking inspiration from past Georgia Center collateral and the building’s history since 1957, the new Bulldog Bistro look invokes design trends of the 50s and 60s in a fun, colorful retro style. Bursts of color scattered around the page and the fun, scattered look of headers styled in Gambado Scotch draw on Atomic Age graphic elements, while the use of UGA brand colors and fonts help keep a normally space-age look grounded in familiarity.
The cocktail illustrations were particularly fun to work on while also being some of the most flavorful elements on the new menu. Each one was hand-drawn in Illustrator, then ported to Photoshop to simulate analog print textures and effects like ink bleed. The result: each picture matches what its real-life counterpart will look like when served at the Bistro, with a subtle bit of vintage flair.
Savannah Room Menu
Taking inspiration from past Georgia Center collateral and the building’s history since 1957, the new Bulldog Bistro look invokes design trends of the 50s and 60s in a fun, colorful retro style. Bursts of color scattered around the page and the fun, scattered look of headers styled in Gambado Scotch draw on Atomic Age graphic elements, while the use of UGA brand colors and fonts help keep a normally space-age look grounded in familiarity. Hand-drawn illustrations and analog print treatments help complete the menu’s vintage look.
Though the restaurant may be called the Savannah Room, there have historically been few visual elements that tie its branding to the coastal city itself. Creating a woodcut-style illustration of an iconic riverboat helped to strengthen the connection between the name and UGA’s outreach in Savannah, while also adding a bit of visual flair and matching the woodcut letters the restaurant’s main menu already uses.