My brief to design the Business Class menus demanded a contemporary approach to showcase the expertise that goes into creating new dishes, which embraced international flavours to bring customers an Irish fusion cuisine experience on board. The range of dishes offers options for those looking for a healthier choice as well as food to cater to those who want to indulge in guilty pleasures.

The chefs and Aer Lingus Inflight Product team draw from their in-depth knowledge of Business Class customers and modern food trends to collaborate, layer flavour profiles and create new dishes to serve on board.

The creativity and flair of designing a completely new suite of menus at this level is a craft—an art in itself, and so my concept of ‘Food as art’ was born. The onboard menu design has innovation and modernity at its heart, they present deconstructed dishes in an artful way that celebrates each component.

Following a carefully defined brief, having researched and met with many food photographers, Paul Gregory was appointed to photograph the food. Fundamental to the success of the photography was food stylist Rebecca Woods, who created striking compositions to represent each dish. After many collaboration calls, a lot of pre-shoot planning and art direction on the shoot—a beautiful range of images were photographed to showcase the sheer quality of the ingredients selected for each dish, each one presented on the printed menus.

Testing and incorporating the food images into the menu design layouts demanded care and attention to detail. Copywriter Christine Orford crafted the text for the menus. We also held discovery calls with the chefs to fully understand each dish, to inform the final descriptions on the physical menus.

The ultimate check was reviewing the menus being printed on press to ensure all details were correct and representative of a premium and contemporary onboard experience.

Credits:
Aer Lingus Product Manager, Inflight Enda Kavanagh
Aer Lingus Brand Manager Karen Moran
Copywriter Christine Orford
Design support Trish O'Flaherty
Printed by Colorman Ireland
Photography by Paul Gregory
Food Stylist Rebecca Woods,
Photographer’s Assistant Thaïs Verhasselt
Digital Operator Alex Ingram
Food Stylist’s Assistant Lara Luck
Aer Lingus Customer Experience Team
Aer Lingus Catering
Dnata Catering
Food & Drink Producers