Menu Design Styles

1
Menu Design Styles

• Design Directions
• Content sets the tone
• User Experience
• Cumulative emotional impression
• Consistent with the theme of the project
• Menu Styles
• Utilitarian
• Derivative
• Conceptual

2
Menu Design Styles

• Utilitarian Menus
• Used for navigation purposes ONLY
• Reasons for utilitarian menus
• Indifference
• Lack of skill
• Limited time
• Limited money
• Practicality (less is sometimes more)
• Appropriateness (think serious...)
• Simple yet elegant

3
Menu Design Styles

• Derivative Menus
• Images lifted (i.e., copied) from the main video
• Note dominate imagery
• Look for scenes w/ interesting movement
• Reasons to use derivative menus
• Consistency
• Convenience
• Cost
• Visual interest
• Tease the viewer ... dont give away too much

4
Menu Design Styles

• Conceptual Menus
• Original visual elements conceptually and
  thematically related to the discs content
• Menu environments
• A visual metaphor of 3D space in which the user
  can navigate and interact
• Reasons to use conceptual menus
• Creativity
• Enhances perceived value (think fresh...)
• Provide a theme (unifying mixed content)
• Suited to the content (grand deserves great)

5
Menu Design Styles

• Conceptual Menus (cont.)
• Conceptual Menus Templates
• Generic (think iDVD...)
• For home movies
• An enhanced utilitarian style

6
Menu Design Styles

• Combined Styles
• All of the above
• Original Menu Content
• Line between menus and content blurred
• Special camera angles
• Video characters aware of menu navigation and
  interacting with it