I went to Pizza Express this evening and was presented with the 'new look' menus. Initially all I saw was a blurry image of a couple on the front of a menu, no logo and the digital information of the photograph running down the side of the image. I was completley thrown, Pizza Express usually has highly illustrated covers to their menu and to be confronted with a holiday snap seemed to be completely unsuitable. However, I was wrong. When you open the menu the first thing you see is...
For me this blurb tied everything together and justified the holiday snapshot style of the front cover. The blurb reads '...Not the Rome from postcards, but the real Rome.' In context this suggests that the new pizzas and the new menu reflect a true glimpse of rome and doesn't sugarcoat or touch-up real life.
This is a really bold design and although I initially hated the fuzzy and cheesy images they really strengthen the concept. My only issue with some of the imagery is that while some look genuine, others look blatantly staged (which completley goes against the idea of reflecting the real Rome). Other than that this is a really strong concept.