Author: Miranda Kerin

The fusion restaurant I have created for my final site is titled Bacon & Bliss, and it incorporates bacon into many common dishes. There are not many restaurants that focus solely on the sale of bacon related items, but the ones that do could be considered direct competition for my style of restaurant. One close example would be a restaurant titled “Bakn”, and it is located on Main Street in Carnegie, PA. The examples of items they sell are very similar to the ones my restaurant would be offering. When I first opened Bakn’s webpage at eatbakn.com, I noticed how they utilized a full page layout. This gave me a large image of one of their food options the moment I opened the site. Another thing that stood out was the bold set of info in the upper right corner. It displays their location and phone number, leaving it very easy to find when navigating to the site. As I continued on further I began to realize the website is a one-page scrolling site. The navigation bar only jumped to a certain part of the page, instead of taking me to another one. The color choices they made closely match the choices I had made for Bacon & Bliss. They used red and gray as their two main colors, with warm toned images of their food to help balance everything out against the white background. They also utilized texture in their main logo which gives it a ‘rustic’ look, matching the style of the restaurant.

The only thing I would change about this site layout would be to put the hours somewhere else on the page besides the bottom. This would be fine if it where a multiple page site, but being a one page layout makes it difficult and time consuming for the user to navigate through. This is one main aspect where my site’s layout would work better, because the information is very quick and easy to get to and I also have a navigational tab for it as well. Another part of my site that may work better is how it is totally contained in a wrapper. In my personal opinion, it is easier to read when everything is contained together, and it is much easier to find information. After viewing Bakn’s website, I realized I could add more user interaction with my site in order to draw people in. Branding is also very important when creating a website because it must reflect what the restaurant aims  to be seen as to the public. Bakn’s branding incorporates humor into it’s message, and they have a very modern take on their business. This kind of branding is what I aim for when creating a restaurant such as this, and I feel I am working my way towards that goal.

In all, I feel that both restaurant sites share many similarities such as color scheme, menu, and branding, but also differ in their layout and information hierarchy. Both strive to sell a product. 

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.

 

The single page website that I have chosen to analyze is deadfiesta.com. I came across this particular website through onepagelove.com and noticed that it was given the honor of ‘most loved’ on their site. I personally wanted to view a single page website that was known for being well thought out and uniquely designed, therefore this site was the right fit. When I opened the web page, the first thing I noticed where the bold, warm colors. The use of royal blue and bold orange helped clarify what the website was going to be about before even looking at their center graphic. The nicely used colors within their illustration help draw the eye to the main focus, which is “The Multicultural Day of the Dead Festival 2015”. Immediately below that is the date of the festival, October 24^th, 2015, and the area the festival will be held, Grand Island, NE. This information is the most vital to anyone interested in attending, and the web designers placed it perfectly on the page with a good amount of emphasis. They added subtle formal textures bordering the graphic, but it does not overpower their message. Instead, it gives the feeling of traditional patterns which ties into the tradition of the Day of the Dead festival. When navigating through this site, one simply scrolls down revealing many facts and answered questions about the festival. Each section is broken up by a bold color change, along with different added illustrations that help bring the whole site together. For example, the section promoting the “Dead Fiesta Dance” shows a well drawn graphic of the classic sugar skull performing music. It also gives an appropriate amount of information one would need to learn about it, and how to register for the event. Each section of text is fully centered on the page, and is alight with everything else. This allows for a large amount of information to be neatly organized on a downward scrolling page. At the very bottom of the page is their contact information, which I felt was a good place to put it. Those visiting the website are most likely inclined to continue scrolling downward to reveal more information and artwork, and after they’ve gathered that information, they are offered a contact list in case more questions are needed. It also gives the viewer a reason to continue scrolling downward, so they fully experience the website. In my opinion, this is a good example of a one page website that is trying to promote an event. It offers the feeling of a large advertisement, which is a good thing, and gives even more information than a simple poster would be able to contain. They also stuck with strong theme throughout it all, which helped tie it all together.  In my opinion, having a professionally done website can help bring people to the event, it gives people a sense that the event coordinators are serious about what they are doing, and will provide the best experience possible.

Our world has drastically changed in just a small amount of time. The technological age has boomed giving us access to new resources and means of making life easier. A prime example of this is the rise of large e commerce sites. For this review, I have chosen to take a closer look at Microsoft’s website and their online buying experience. The first thing I noticed when going to their homepage was the layout. The entire page reminded me of the grid system they now use in their products such as the Surface Pro tablet and the Xbox One. The layout as a whole was very symmetrical and easy to navigate, all with the use of large blocks of color. In the reading, Don’t Make Me Think, the author mentions how much design has changed in the past few years. Instead of ‘fancy’ fonts and the over-use of ‘fun’ images, minimalism is now used instead, giving it a sleek and modern look. While ordering on Microsoft’s website, the process of putting something in-cart, and beginning the billing process was somewhat grueling. Each link I clicked to move to the next step gave me a pop-up ad for either Xbox Gold Membership or asked for my e-mail in order to receive “coupons”. For me, it was too much product pushing, especially when I would have already been making a purchase. Other than that, the layout they used for giving product info and reviews was very simple and easy to understand, and I would consider purchasing from their online store in the future.