For review 4 I chose to compare my fusion restaurant’s website to Dunkin’ Donuts. For the final project, my team and I decided that we would create a donut fusion restaurant that would offer savory or sweet sandwiches that would sit between a donut. Being that Dunkin’ Donuts is a huge name, especially for donuts, I feel that this business could be competition for our restaurant, The O Zone.

Dunkin’ Donuts is a very well known and loved establishment throughout our country and for that reason I feel that they will be The O Zone’s biggest competition in donut selling. The website for Dunkin’ is very messy in my opinion. There are a lot of bright colors going on and content randomly placed on the pages. There is a lot of text also present, which makes it hard for me to locate what I intended to. However, the navigation is fairly simple since they have a navigation bar located at the top of the page with links to different things such as: drinks, food, and so forth. When I clicked on “Hot beverages,” I was lead to another page with pictures of their different offerings and the names of each product beneath. I found this aspect of the site to be successful because I certainly didn’t have to do any thinking. As far as texture goes, there isn’t much present other than a few gradients on keys and navigation bars. I don’t think the lack of texture takes away from this site, but the messy layout and highly saturated colors don’t do it much justice. In all, the site is decently put together, but it is not the most aesthetically pleasing design that I have seen.

For The O Zone, my group and I decided that our website will be a single page site that can be navigated simply with a constant key. Upon entering the page, our logo will be at the top center of the homepage with our location on both sides, and a key to navigate the content of the website beneath it. The key has clickable buttons that will take the viewer directly to what they are looking for. For example, we will have a button that says “The Menu.” Once clicked, the page will scroll directly to the menu portion of the site. This concept goes for the rest of the content on our site. When our viewers want to change content or go to another section of the website, they can do this easily with a navigation bar that moves with the page and sits at the top always. We felt that this technique would make our website as user friendly as possible and allow our viewers to never have to think. The background color of the website is black. The content of the page will live in a margin that is more narrow than the page as whole and will have a grey background color. The accent colors of The O Zone are comprised of dull and saturated hues of purple, pink, and tan. To create a well flowing page, we decided each heading will be the same color, bright pink-orange, and our body text will be a dull tan. Instead of having photographs to present our products, we decided we would create our own illustrations for our unique products. This idea allows for the viewer to have an idea of what they can expect to get at the restaurant, while still leaving some mystery and fun for their visit. Like Dunkin’ Donuts, texture will not be a prominent part of our website. The O Zone is a chic and modern establishment and giving our site a flat look compliments the concept. In all, our fusion restaurant will stand out against Dunkin’ Donuts because: we have many products you cannot get at Dunkin’ or anywhere else for that matter and our website is trendy while still being user friendly and easy to navigate through.

http://bravofranco.com/index.asp VS. http://www.burgatorybar.com/

These restaurants are very different and are going after a different audience. Therefore, the styles of the sites are different, but I believe both do a good job.

First, Bravo Franco’s site. The first thing that grabs the user’s attention on the homepage would be the three large pictures of their food and restaurant placed in the center. Then, the user sees the toolbar that is split by the restaurant’s logo. The toolbar consists of all the necessary pages to navigate to and above the toolbar, there is the restaurant’s phone number and address. The site is easy to navigate. The store’s hours are at the bottom of the site in their own section titled “hours of operation.” This makes them easy to find. One visual problem would be the menu section in the bottom right of the homepage. The different categories of the menu are listed in bright red, a color that doesn’t fit the overall scheme of the site. That could because they want to emphasize that section, but their menu already has it’s own page that can be accessed through the toolbar at the top of the page. Although the site’s aesthetic is a little rough around the edges, it does a good job at making sure everything that needs to found is easy to find.

Burgatory’s site has a completely different feel to it. The first thing the user sees on their site is a completely interactive look at their burgers and shakes. This is easy to use and works well for restaurant who’s main attraction is it’s unique menu. The toolbar is placed directly next to the interactive menu and has a way to navigate to useful sections such as the full menu, locations, ways to contact , and merchandise. All of the locations are also listed at the bottom of the homepage. One problem I do have with the site is the fact that the hours of operation are placed at  the bottom right of the homepage in small, dark red font that may be hard to read for some. The site is definitely unique and modern looking, but the hours of operation should definitely be easier to find. It’s an important part of a restaurant’s site.

Although Burgatory looks slicker and more modern, I feel it easier to find what you want on Bravo Franco’s web site.

Miranda Kerin

Review 3

Mad Mex vs. Burgatory

For this review I chose to compare Burgatory and Mad Mex on their websites. The first site I chose to open was Burgatory’s, and was pleasantly surprised by how unique it’s homepage looked. Instead of the classic downward scrolling page, it allowed the user to scan through different burger choices and put humor in each slide. Being a mostly create-your-own meal restaurant, it was a clever way to show some of the creations one could potentially make if they visited in person. The site also has the same design feeling as the inside of their restaurants, allowing for a seamless transition in their marketing. They balanced out their page nicely with the use of bold text shown on either side of the central graphic. They place heavy emphasis on the image of the burger, for good reason. The layout, as I said previously, is unique but it works well for their company.

On the other hand, when I opened Mad Mex’s homepage I was not as impressed by the initial look of their layout. Their color schemes seem to work well for their style of restaurant, but their lack of texture gives the site a boring feel. Although the navigation is easy to understand, for it is located right underneath a simple banner. While this makes in some-what user friendly, it does not make it stand out as a unique and interesting website. The use of balance is thrown off by a large image that drowns out the text. They also use yellow text on a green banner for their additional information footer which is somewhat hard to read. This site also goes against Krug’s, “Make it easy to go home,” rule. There is no home link on the main navigation, the user must click the large banner in order to go back home. In fact, the only other option to go home is the small yellow text on the footer.

When comparing these two websites, Burgatory succeeds in having a more unique and balanced layout in comparison to Mad Mex. They tied in the theme of their restaurant to the experience of their website, and it only helps add to their brand.

For review 3 I chose to investigate the websites for Bravo Franco Ristorante and Six Penn Kitchen. To begin with, I found that the two websites had many similarities. For example, both sites have their company name and logo at the top center of their home pages; making it very easy for the viewer to observe what restaurant they are looking at. They both also have a tool bar at the top of their home site with links to different parts of the site, such as: menus, contact information, specials, etc. A third similarity I came across while experimenting was that when I clicked on a link in the tool bar, I was directed to a different page but still had the same tool bar to use if I wanted to go to a different page. I think that these aspects gave strength to both sites because I didn’t have to do any thinking when I wanted to travel to another page.

That said, the two restaurants are very different when it comes to what they serve, so their layouts are also very different. Bravo Franco Ristorante’s site had a much more distinguished look. It used serif typefaces and a more natural, business-like color scheme. The color scheme and typefaces remained constant from page to page, which gave it unity. The information presented on each page was clean and readable. Each page also had a heading, with a word that was much larger than the body of that page, which emphasized what the viewer should expect to read. The layout was clean and the text was very easy to read on each page, however I found it be quite boring. I found myself bored with the lack of color usage and illustrations. There were a few pictures present of dishes they served, but they were very small and in my eyes, took a back seat to the rest of the content on the page.

The design of Six Penn Kitchen was very different from the previous restaurant. This website used a much more playful color scheme and modern look. As stated before, the information that I was searching for was very easy to find due to the tool bar being constant within each page. However, I found that for the most part, the text was centered on each page making it not as legible. The site did use emphasis in making words bold or a different color, but I still found myself getting lost in the text at times. The website dealt with unity well since each page was almost identical to the next. Balance was also achieved because the body on each page was centered, leaving equal negative space on each side.

In all, I think both websites were successful in achieving balance, unity, emphasis, and layout. I think Bravo Franco’s was more successful when it came to emphasis and layout while Six Penn was more successful with balance and unity. Both sites were “idiot-proof,” which is a major goal for web designers according to “Don’t Make Me Think.” Also, I didn’t find many useless words that would turn me off to the site. Krug states multiples times in the text that the less words, the better. Viewers have a goal in mind and if they can’t find it within seconds, they will go to the next website. Neither website made me feel like I had to rip out my hair trying to find what I was looking for, so I’m sure Krug would say, well done.

I chose to review two local restaurant’s websites: Meat and Potatoes (http://meatandpotatoespgh.com/index.html) and Butcher and the Rye (http://butcherandtherye.com/#) They are not only similar in cuisine, style, and atmosphere, but the two restaurants are actually in collaboration, so I felt it would be interesting to compare the two.

I first looked at the website for Meat and Potatoes. Upon first visiting the website the viewer is immediately drawn to a butcher chart in which is labeled the different parts of the website which can be navigated: Menu, About, Gallery, Contact, etc. Upon clicking on one of these panels takes you to a simple webpage that minimally addresses the information. The viewer can then visit other parts of the website through a navigation bar at the top of the page. The website has a good sense of unity by using consistent color scheme, texture, and illustrations. The only disruption in this was the “The Chef” tab, which takes you to a bland, mediocre website belonging to the owner, which distracts from the otherwise persistent theme. Nonetheless, this website does a good job to create a brand for themselves and convey a sophisticated, yet rough around the edges, attitude. While the emphasis of these webpages is of course on the information selected, the restaurant’s logo, address, and number are consistently repeated on each page, which is convenient.

Next I visited the Butcher and the Rye website, which had a one-page layout. While the website seemed to mimic Meat and Potato’s monochromatic color palette and heavy use of texture, this website seemed to portray a more whimsical mood. At the top of the webpage is clickable typography and corresponding illustrated decals. Upon clicking on the words, for instance “The Menu”, the page automatically scrolls down to an image of the menu. The viewer also has the ability to scroll manually through all of the information. There is an evident consistency in the imagery of the page, relying on a bitmap texture and vintage collage technique. While the Butcher and Rye website is a bit busy, it’s certainly unique and attention grabbing.

Regarding Krug’s list of essential aspects of a website, I’ve tried to determine how the webpages implemented these. As far as creating a clear visual hierarchy on every page, I feel that the Meat and Potatoes website does a better job. Each category is featured very directly by importance, whereas the Butcher and the Rye webpage is a bit all over the place and everything seems to flow together. I feel that the Meat and Potatoes website also does a better job at utilizing conventions, for instance it implements headlines in a more prominent way, where as the Butcher and the Rye is presented in more unconventional way. I think both pages do a good job at creating clearly defined areas through page breaks, borders, and titles labeling each section. Both websites clearly define what is a clickable link very well. Meat and Potatoes implements underlined text and text that changes color when hovered. Catcher and the Rye relies on a bold red color when hovered at the beginning of the webpage, which really grabs the viewer’s attention and urges them to click. Lastly, I think both websites did a fairly good job at minimizing noise. If anything, the Butcher and the Rye website is a bit busy and slightly distracting, but I think it works well to suggest the desired feeling of the restaurant.

Overall, while the Meat and Potatoes website is definitely clean and well organized, the Butcher and the Rye personally draws my attention more. The one-page scroll is unconventional and interactive, and there is immense interest in the visuals of the webpage. The webpage is fun and a bit offbeat, suggesting that the restaurant would be a unique and unordinary dining experience.

 

 

The two sites I choose where Bravo and Six Penn. I think both sites were very well designed. Bravo put the most emphasis on there logo where as Six Penn decided to put the focal point on the location image at the top of the page. Six Penn’s unity works better than Bravo’s because of overall texture and color usage. I also think Six Penn’s layout works better than Bravo’s because it looks more interactive and interesting than Bravo’s very basic look. However, I think both sites are very usable and easy to navigate. Six Penn is defiantly more effective at grabbing my attention. They use a variety of images that show a many different aspects of the restaurant. The color choices were also much better with Six Penn than Bravo. They show a very elegant style but also very approachable. In conclusion both sites are successful but Six Penn steals the cake with style, elegance, and approachability.

The two websites i reviewed was SixPennKitchen.com and Burgatory.com. the Purgatory website attracted me more bc it uses more of a Bighter color palette then the sixpennkitchen website does, Burgatory’s website also has a better use of images as they are bigger and easier to see. the Burgatory website in that sense users emphasis very well because the pictures of the food and everything is bigger to put that emphasis on them. the sixpennkitchen website has a very limited color palette as far as having the same two colors, i found that it is easier to get to as far as the menu or about us page and news & gallery page, were as purgatory makes it very hard to navigate to other pages. the sixpennkitchen website is very easy to navigate through because all of the different tabs are all on the top of the page and easy to find, the different sub menus are very limited as well the color palette, were as the Burgatory website sub menus are more colorful and have a better design to them then the other website which is better to look at and more interesting. Overall i feel the Burgatory website is the overall better website.

Multicraft International as a single page website works out very good as the navigation is very easy and simple for the user to work their way through the site. I also liked the way the navigation of the page as it was going from top to bottom following the gear as you went through the different sections of the page. I also liked how the the different sections had very good descriptions of the management style they were trying to convey. I felt that the graphics on the page could have been a little bit better, I also felt that the color choice could have been used better i felt they used to much grey and red. overall i felt it is a ok single site page but still has a lot that could be better on it. The navigation on it is very good and very easy to follow and i liked the how they used the gear to follow you as you went down through the page. Overall i felt it was a very well thought out but still needs a little bit of work to do on it.

The name of the site that I am reviewing is HeartKids.co.nz. Heart Kids is a New Zealand based charity that raises money for children with heart disease and congenital heart failure. The site is a single page scrolling site that has information and stories about the children and people that Heart Kids helps. The site runs off a timeline based template, where you scroll down the page and find out more and more about the topic at hand. The site is very easy to navigate so someone that isn’t exactly computer savvy could still scroll through this site and learn about how they can help and donate for the cause. The site is very beneficial, has a very strong two color design, and very modern and artsy scrolling that allows for a great user experience. In my eyes this site helps the cause more.

Today I will be reviewing a website that interestingly is made of only one page. These websites are great in a lot of ways, there’s a clear way of viewing the page, as opposed to being able to go to any page on the site. It also can cost less depending on who you pay for hosting or designing your site for you. Sites like this are becoming more and more popular for all their benefits and while they aren’t perfect for every use on the web they are still important to understand.

On the website “one page love” you can find a large number of sites that utilize only one webpage, it’s a great site itself and highlights the best one page sites of a certain week. While going through the site I saw a visual striking thumbnail that I clicked on to visit a site about bandages.

As far as texture and color are concerned, this site is a lot of striking black backgrounds, and this is done really well for a minimalist look. Along with the stark black is a panel that is made to look just like a large patch of human skin, this is one of the best parts of the site as it showcases the products, bandages, with an appropriate background. Against the black the light skin texture causes extreme contrast, which pulls the user through the page.

The navigation is simple, in that it is only vertical. This works because the visuals of the website are very minimalistic and simple and the content layout mirrors this minimalism. The vertical site is broken into panels that either have information or visuals and go back and forth between the two. It also makes sense to be so linear because this is really just an advertisement and so it just gives the viewer what they need to understand.

As I have stated before the minimalism and contrast makes the site really easy to navigate as it just continues down vertically hinting at what the site is about, then explaining the product in text then revealing each bandage, finally showing the bandage on a mans neck in use and explaining the background of the product. Another great and useful tool on the webpage is the fixed buttons that scroll with the user and constantly allow them to purchase the product at any time.

I personally love this site. It’s a great example of how you can have a product website and make it simple so that any possible buyer can navigate it and buy the product. Simplicity and striking design are used together to make a really user friendly site that does what it needs to do.

source: http://sherwoodforlee.com/works/boo-boos/