DVD Menus (not software related question)

[themichael]

After much searching, all I can find is the technical part of making DVD menus.

Does anybody have a link, book, or guide on Menu design? What makes a good menu, colors to avoid, layout and stuff like that?

I have some understanding from doing VCDs. These were limited because of the standards. Simple 1-2-3 menus. Simple graphics for moving/motion menus. Little space to have many clips or episodes.

Any graphic designers out there?

This may belong in the guides request, sorry if I mis-posted. More of the right people might see it here.....

Mike

(About the colors - I know to avoid a lot of red. I even had an older tv develop h-sync video problems on certain shades of red. )

[housepig]

some of that is just going to be general design-related information - good design is good design, whether it's a car, a chair or a dvd menu.

there are some books on interactivity and designing for interactive media - I have a book on designing interfaces for computer media using Macromedia Director, which covers a lot of basics on how to arrange buttons and graphics, pitfalls to avoid in the design, etc... you might see if you can find some info on that, it would certainly be applicable.

I've also seen design annuals focused on the best in video design - you might find some good info in something of that nature (and if it's last year's book, you can find those at used book stores pretty easily - design firms get the current editions, they ditch the old ones)