Author: Trevor_Young

Trevor Young

Ames

4/18/2018

Review 4

 

I reviewed http://southsidebbqcompany.com a local food truck and brick and mortar restaurant located in Pittsburgh Pa. The South Side BBQ Company focuses on Barbeque food.

My initial thoughts on the website is that it appears rather amateur. Certain aspects of the layout and design feel very outdated. As I loaded up the site I had immediate memories of the way the web looked in the mid 2000’s. My first gripe would be the obnoxious fire jpg used as the background. Yes, I understand they are a BBQ truck and therefore use flame to cook their food. However the background picture is obnoxious and cheap looking. A quick fix would be to lower the opacity on the background in an attempt to make the page look less harsh.

In regards to the layout of the site I find it to be pretty average, some thing work well here and some are just confusing. There are multipole pages that all serve their function well. An About page with pictures an info. A calendar page that lists where the truck will be and included a link to the location on google maps which is nice. All the information is here but it’s formatting is strange at time. The “Menu page is just a list of the food items written in text in centered font. This is jarring and the text is the same size and style as the majority of the rest of the pages text. Another clear example of poor layout is the home page, where a large portion of the top third of the screen is blank. The company name and email address are typed in the top left corner but much too small in size.  To the right of this is the address and phone number of the restaurant and truck in smallish type. Then three jpgs take up a chunk of the screen. Two QR codes for mobile apps and a company logo. While the QR codes and mobile apps are nice to have, placing them at the top of the page seems to be a mistake in my eyes.

The color scheme is unified throughout, sort of a rustic red and dullish yellow. And while I personally don’t enjoy these colors all the texts and attributes are viewable. The color is lacking in some areas as the page begins to feel more like a sea of white. Perhaps the strongest section of the site is where color is used most adequately and that is the calendar page. Where the red on yellow text is readable and looks complimentary. There is unfourtnetly little to no use of texture on the site. The companies logo uses this nice rustic texture that feels very vintage and fits the theme of homecooked BBQ but the rest of the site is very flat in it’s design. There is one nice drop shadow, again on the calandar page, that works well but the majority of the site seem to be lacking in this area.

While aesthetically the site in below average the navigation is adequate. The nav bar is not much of a bar as it is floating words in space, but they all link correctly to the correct page. The site is easily navigable where it be in it’s calendar phase of it’s contact us page where the user is given a forum to fill out.

In comparison to our website (TheBastardChild.com) I feel that are site will be much more modern in it’s design. Our site features a more up to date color palate as well as amore contemporary look and feel.

Overall the site is lacking in a lot of areas but it is serviceable. It can be rather ugly to be frank and at times can be difficult to use but overall It is very much a “local webpage” in it’s feel. This is a page about local food after all and it feels like they are not interested in the “polish” that may come from a more professional design.

Single Page site review

 

I chose to review the site Jdillachangedmylife.com. The site is very basic in it’s elements, but it is displayed quite beautifully.  The homepage is a complex animation showing the musical artist J Dilla the design and color schemes are unified but also diverse and the overall design feels really unique. By incorporating this animation the stage is set for the site to succeed.

To navigating down the site you must scroll down through the page. As you scroll the page is designed to stop at a certain point to display the entire page. Each page has a different song that plays, Also each page has a unified color background that compliments the album art of the song. As well as the details about the song such as title, and a link to play the song.

The use of texture here is limited, the album arts have drop shadows that cause them to pop off the screen but otherwise the page feels very flat in it’s design but perhaps this was intentional. The animation on the page however does have a lot of texture. Some of the video clips are lo-fi and grainy and it compliments the urban aesthetic of the page. J Dilla himself was very closely connected to the city of Detroit and this animation displays the streets of Detroit efficiently. Textures and shapes are used to portray brick and stone just like on the street.

Overall the page is basic but also interesting, the strongest segment is the animation and also it’s ability to use color in a unified and connected way. The contrast here is really nice. All in All I would say the page works well as an overall design and my only “complaint” of sorts would be that the information and songs included are rather limited.

I chose to review the sites no9park.com and Burgatory.com. Both sites seem to be displayed similarly and effectively. I will begin by analyzing No9park.com. No9park.com seems to be an efficient and stylish website on all fronts. The home page displays a background picture of the exterior of the restaurant  and allows the user to scroll down to background information of the restaurants history, location and employees. The sites flows smoothly and is balanced appropriately with a header and a footer. The header is a bar that allows the user to navigate with the options “Reservations” “Menu” “The Bar room” “Private Dining” “Wine Program” “Cocktail classes” and “Upcoming events” All of these link appropriately to pages that included information of the respective tabs. The overall use of the screen is good as it takes full use of the majority of the screen in landscape. The proper emphasis is given to the right texts and pictures allowing the user to navigate efficiently through the site. The layout is pleasing and useful although it could be said that the site has “wasted space” this creates an aesthetic that is pleasing to the eye.

The next site is Burgatory.com, This site is very similar in many aspects to no9park.com in that it also uses a wide layout that takes up the screen. The homepage is a slideshow of images included food, customers eating, and employees. Much like No9park there is a navigation header that includes various tabs. One difference is the menu tab allows the user to sort by type of food with a dropdown bar allowing the user to examine certain parts of the menu. This is a bit harmful to the flow of the site as you have to navigate to see the entire menu unlike no9park which has the entire menu on one scrolling page.

Ultimately both sites are visually pleasing and easily navigable. There are some minor difference in both function and design but both sites over the same functions with some difference in visual style.