For this review, I chose to compare Franktuary and Burgatory. I immediately was much more drawn to the Burgatory website, as I felt the design was much more appealing. Burgatory heavily utilizes the colors black and red, and I think the balance between these two colors is very strong throughout the entire website. I’ve heard before that the color red stimulates hunger and is used heavily for food chains, so I think it was a great choice, especially paired with black to make it stand out and contrast. This is similar to Franktuary’s primary colors used, which are white and red.
Another example of balance for Burgatory is towards the bottom of the home page, there are three images of the same size placed next to one another. One is about ordering online, the middle is to join their mailing list to get a free birthday milkshake, and the third is about joining the crew. I was surprised to find something extremely similar on Franktuary’s website. Toward the bottom of the screen for this one, there are three images of the same size placed next to each other. They are “Franks”, “Poutine”, and “Libations”. Similar to the images for Burgatory, this is very satisfying and exhibits great balance. My one complaint with this, however, is that clicking on any of these three images takes you to the same spot; which is just the general page for the menu. I think it would be better if it took you to their respective sections on the menu.
I do think both websites exhibit strong unity. Both Franktuary and Burgatory maintain the same style throughout their entire website. They have the same fonts and design features, such as fonts and image designs, throughout their entireties. Looking at the design element of emphasis, I think the most emphasized thing on Franktuary’s website is the photo of the frankfurters found once you scroll a little bit down the website. You first see the food truck and how to book it, but then you find a very large image of some of the items. This is similar to the giant image of a burger you see when you first arrive at Burgatory’s website. I would take a page out of the burger joint’s book for Franktuary and begin with the giant image of the hot dogs, and then put the part about booking the truck, so that users see that first and are intrigued.
In my opinion, I think the overall layout for Burgatory is much stronger than the one for Franktuary. Both sites have similar design elements, but for Franktuary, it focuses more on finding the truck or booking the truck than what the truck is actually selling. At the header of the page, you can click on “Book the truck”, a button that takes you back to home, or “Find the truck”. If you wanted to find the menu, you would have to scroll all the way to the bottom and click on one of the three images. Burgatory’s header, however, has many features including the menu, and much more. I also enjoy their rotating images that you see when you first arrive at the website because it keeps the user intrigued.