Author: Chelsea Hepfl

Due to the lack of fusion restaurants in Pittsburgh, I would have to say our biggest rivals for business would be Kaya and Habitat. Both are restaurants that pride themselves on fresh, local produce while integrating Island cuisine and twists on traditional favorites, respectively. Of course, since The Burgh focuses solely on fusion burgers, it has a bit of its own uniqueness that Kaya and Habitat do not already possess. Kaya’s website (bigburrito.com/kaya) is a bit lacking to say the least. The body is but a square in a seas of earthy brown. While its color scheme does give a feel of “island life”, it does so in a generic way with thickly textured backgrounds of palm trees. It lacks the sophisticated appearance of a restaurant that is supposed to be one of Pittsburgh’s best and disappoints with its lack of web pages, especially the menus which are just PDFS linked to the page. There also seems to be little care shown to how margins and gutters are used in regards to text and the blocks of color they are placed within. Habitat (habitatrestaurant.com), on the other hand, has a much more pleasing aesthetic than Kaya. This website has a fresh and clean looking that is pleasing to the eye and hints at the more extravagant (and expensive) dishes that they serve. The website is not the most straightforward one I have experienced. When arriving to the homepage, I was caught off guard by the lack of navigational bars and instead had to search for the “menu” icon seen in many cell phone applications. After realizing that this was the navigation bar, I could appreciate the design since the website really does focus on the food more than anything else with the menu being the focal point and otherwise unaccompanied by blocks a text. Even the “About Us” portion was only three or four snippets of short sentences. I also enjoyed the overall flow since the website is mainly one page that just scrolls vertically, except for the extended menus, such as breakfast, brunch, and lunch. Our design for The Burgh is similar to Habitat’s in that is uses a set color scheme that is clean and consistent as well as a simple layout made for easy navigation. Elements that our website shares with Kaya is that it too uses a navigation bar at the top and bottom and has separate pages rather than Habitat’s single flow. While The Burgh would potentially be less expensive than either of these restaurants, we designed it to have a similar to feel to a restaurant that is more modern and high-end than the average burger joint. Its simplicity and cleanliness is what will make The Burgh standout as a fusion burger restaurant.

For my third site review, I chose to compare and contrast the websites of Burgatory (burgatorybar.com) and Red Robin (redrobin.com). Out of these two sites I believe that Red Robin has a much more classic site than Burgatory as it follows a tight layout that I have seen on many other websites, food-related or not. Red Robin balances its website through the use of this layout, or grid, as well as through the use of color as its panels/links are pops of color on a more muted background. Burgatory, on the other hand, seems to use the term very loosely. While I enjoy its use of background and more interactive interface, I can’t help but feel that its elements are just floating in air without much thought to a grid or hierarchy. It does feel unbalanced to me as there are transparent images (the logo and burger/shake icons) on the left side of the home page that rely on negative space, while on the other side of the massive burger/shake gallery the navigation bar simply hangs with what looks like a gift card center positioned below it. I personally think that Burgatory’s choice of a less defined website, despite making it more interesting to look at, makes it more of a guessing game when trying to navigate the site. Both websites have a firm grasp on unity, despite some layout issues. Both are consistent in their use of color and typography. Both are also conscious of their use of background throughout their web pages. Burgatory’s website did confuse a bit, though as I noticed discrepancies through some of their pages where the bottom nav had a weird upper border.  Red Robin also has the upper hand with their clean and precise gridded layout, as mentioned before. In regards to Krug’s principles, both websites have their highs and lows. Krug’s “First Law of Usability” is apparent in Red Robin’s design. The page is laid out in a way where things are easy to spot and find as they use very little text, so links are simple and defined. Burgatory is a bit harder to decipher. It is difficult to tell what is a link in some cases as much of the page has a flat, unresponsive appearance despite it being very interactive once you begin clicking. On my first encounter with these sites, I immediately noticed the differences in how well one would perceive them. Red Robin can be easily scanned as most are familiar with its layouts. I was able to quickly find what I was looking for without reading in to it, but one Burgatory’s page I had to think about what I was looking for and got distracted along the way by giant pop-ups as I moved my mouse over the central image (burger or shake). If Burgatory were to fix its layout and comply to a stricter grid, I believe I would enjoy its site more just because it is entertaining and makes me want to explore the site, but as for which is more effective, I would have to say Red Robin has altogether easier to navigate site that the average person would maneuver much faster than one on Burgatory, especially if you are easily distracted like me.

Describe and analyze the site’s use of color and texture.

I chose Flying Piñata (flyingpinata.co) as the single page website of my choice. Flying Piñata is a minimalistic site that relies on festive colors of yellow-orange, cyan, red, and green.  The Flying Piñata logo is made up of all of these colors while the “flying piñata” is a yellow-orange and red striped donkey with a green drone carrying it. I feel these colors fit the personality of this site. Flying Piñata sells literal flying piñatas. When you download the application, you can deliver a piñata via drone to a location of your choosing, typically to a child’s party or other fun event. Otherwise, the site is made of a muted sky blue as the piñata is carried across the sky that is their header. This blue appears again at the bottom of the sight where there is multicolored confetti pieces.

 

Further, as this is a single page site how does the user navigate from one section of content to another? Does the user have to scroll left to right, top to bottom, all over or is navigation provided that takes the user to the content? What design elements make the site easy to scan, read and understand content.

On this site, the user navigates by scrolling from top to bottom where links to the app are seen along the way down as well as cute, animations that explain the purpose of the company. The site is a little confusing at first glance. While I adore the animations, I was confused by the extremely large video beneath the header. As I scrolled by it, I discovered the simple bit of information provided by the company and another link to the application similar to the one in the header. If the video were smaller, it would be much easier to understand and would not have a giant break in the middle of the page.

 

Lastly, make an argument for whether this site’s design is well or poorly done.

While I enjoy the theme and idea of this site, I do not believe it is the easiest to read or understand. The header is charming and cute, but the large video clip takes up too much space and takes away from the rest of the website by dividing it and creating a large, black hole on an otherwise light feeling site. After the video, we return to the bright, fun website, though it had a bit of white space that I feel made the animations look like they were floating.

Let me paint you a picture. It’s the “middle” of winter after a couple weeks of a strange, spring-like warm front and because of said warm front, you are now sick, unable to leave your bed and you are wishing you had the money to justify purchasing a $11.95 one-time-use bath bomb that you keep seeing all over the internet. But, wait! You remember that more money is coming soon via loan refunds and your birthday! Let us spend this money now while you are in a fever-induced haze before you can realize it is a bad idea. Perfect.

Welcome to lushusa.com! The home page appears relatively straightforward and aesthetically pleasing. We see two, black and white header menus at the top of the screen with a multitude of links to be traversed. The topmost bar includes LUSH’s icon and homepage link and nodules to the LUSH blog, their Charity Pot, “Our Story” that explains how they differ from other bath-and-body-esque franchises, the search bar, an aptly named nodule called “Shops” with the location icon, log-in, and what appears to be a handbag icon that I would assume to be the equivalent of the shopping cart without further investigation. On the second menu bar there is a list of all of the categories of products, including “new”, bath, shower, hair, face, body, gifts, makeup, perfume, space, videos, sale and Valentine’s Day. Below the menus are a couple of thick, colorful banners that showcase new products and holiday specials. Since we are looking for the magnificent, peppermint “Intergalactic” bath bomb, for the sniffles, I hovered my cursor over the “bath” nodule from which a panel fell, giving us the options of clicking on “bath bombs”, “bubble bars”, “luxury bath melts”, and “fun”. Simple enough. I clicked on “bath bombs” and was greeted to a similar set up as the homepage, with a large banner beneath the menus, stating that we are in the right place. Scrolling down the page, we are greeted by a fairly minimalistic layout, though anything more than the pictures of the bright and colorful bath bombs would simply be busy and hard to look at. There it is! Without even clicking on the “Intergalactic” bath bomb, we are given the option to “buy now” right below the image and quantity/price information. Since we know what we want, let’s click it! Now remember that little handbag icon mentioned earlier? Well, after deciding we want to buy it immediately, we are sent back to the top of our page where a small window has opened below the icon stating that the “Intergalactic” bath bomb is now in our cart and that we can view the cart or check out. By clicking on “checkout” we are taken to a new page that allows you to sign in, sign up or guest checkout without the use of an account. From here you just enter your information, quick and easy!

I have to say, that based on “Don’t Make Me Think”, that lushusa.com recognizes the “Facts of Life” and answers to them all. In no way are you required to read more than a short message throughout the entirety of the website unless you are very interested in LUSH’s background, charitable deeds, or you like to read the descriptions of the products you are purchasing and when they want to get a message across, it’s in big, bold letters that will catch your eye even if you choose not to click “read the article”. On this site, the reasonable options are the typically the best options as most people who find themselves on LUSH’s specialty cosmetics have a vague idea of what they are searching for and easily be accessed when being able to narrow down your searches by use and then specific products.

All in all, I believe that LUSH has a strong and easy to use website. It gives you a simple path to follow that does not allow you to get completely lost on it with defined pages and menus.

 

Chelsea Hepfl