Typographic Menu Design for the Old Man Bar
One of Asia’s best bars ditched imagery—just type and sheer bible paper.
Oddity Studio collaborated with The Old Man bar to create the seventh edition of their conceptual menu, exploring the theme of relationships and interconnectedness. Using only typography and bible paper, the design invites guests to complete the dialogue between designer, client, and user, emphasizing how meaning emerges through interaction.
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Insights
- The Old Man—often cited as one of Asia’s best bars—paired that reputation with an unexpected material choice: a conceptual menu printed on sheer bible paper, bringing “fine-book” fragility into a high-traffic bar setting.
- Oddity Studio’s 7th annual menu edition is built around relationships and interconnectedness: “Nothing exists in isolation… everything exists in relation to one another and the spaces between,” linking designer↔client, bar↔guest, and Hemingway↔people in his life.
- The core design constraint is radical minimalism: only typography (no imagery) and GT Alpina, using type not just for layout but “as writers,” mixing form and meaning to echo Hemingway’s literary world.
- The bible paper isn’t a gimmick—its transparency makes pages visually “complete each other,” physically demonstrating the theme as text layers, bleeds through, and interacts across spreads.
- Interaction is baked into the structure: they intentionally “leav[e] a blank space for guest to complete the full circle. Designer — Client — User,” turning the menu into a conversation rather than a static list.
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