Project 1 Market Research
- Visual Design
- No logo
- Lack of hierarchy
- Text alignment in product pages that have no pictures look awful. Everything is aligned completely to the left.
- Brand image is unclear. It seems like this cafe is going for a simple, aesthetic feel at the top, but has a completely different vibe in the middle by using gradient colored boxes. It feels like they are trying to look trendy but it is not coherent with the rest of the site.
- Content
- The menu items are shown on the homepage but there are no pictures for all the items.
- Repetitive food pictures in product page.
- There are links to the menu items on top and the same links in color buttons below. (So it’s repetitive and unnecessary.)
- There is a
Featured Products
section with only one item. It should be put under the “Food” section instead.
- Lacking in personality. There is no special story for the
About section
.
- No pictures of the store or employees, etc.
Call to action
on home page
- They have a
Taste Now
button, but it should be Order Now
.
- They need more elements related to online ordering.
- Navigation
- No logo/home button link.
- The nav links don’t send you to another page. Instead, it only scrolls down to the corresponding section that’s further below.
- Elements that belong in the nav bar are in the middle of the page. For example, the sign in button should be at the top but it’s in the middle. The icons are also very unnoticeable.
- The
Store
link on top is not needed. Or it should be reworded as Menu
.
- Functionality
- All links work.
- Since nothing leads to a different page, there is only scrolling up and down. For example, I click
Sign In
and the sign in box pops up at the top in the same page, below the hero section.
- I need to click the back button frequently because there is no
Back to Top
button or logo I can click on to go back to home. Some sections also disappear when I click on a link so it’s not easy to go back.
- I lose focus of my goals and the site’s online ordering capabilities are not emphasized so I feel like there’s not much I can do.
- Community building (social media)
- There are social media icons/buttons everywhere: in the footer, product page,
Connect with us
section. It should only be in select places.
- There is no coherence because there is a Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook link in the footer, but only a Facebook and Instagram link in the
Connect with us
section.
- It would be nice if there was a social media section in the about us page that shows customers’ posts.
Goals and Target Audience
- Goals: To fulfill online orders
- Target Audience: The Northridge community which is a bit too broad. It would be better to target college students because they are right near CSUN.
- What questions need to be answered in order to complete this project?
- What vibe/brand image are they going for? - Nothing is coherent. Colors and fonts they use are all different. Their tagline is
Uplifted Coffee
but nothing represents that.
- What tasks do we need to complete in order to successfully design this website?
- Make different pages, add the logo, add more pictures, change the nav bar, get rid of the huge hero section or add more call to action buttons.
- What issues need to be solved?
- Their brand presence is lacking and there is no clear selling point. Everything is in one page and feels unorganized.
- What is our schedule?
- Submit the final project by June 14.
Competitive Analysis
- Visual design
- Coherent: All same fonts and colors used. I’m able to grasp their vibe right away (simple, aesthetically pleasing, modern)
- Lovely logo
- High quality pictures
- Content
- I can scan through things quickly because it's organized.
- I like how they added a video.
- Everything is explained very thoroughly but it’s just the right amount of text (not too long).
Call to action
on home page
- Order online button in hero section.
- Bag and search icon on top right.
- Navigation
- All the nav items are on the top and in the footer. I like this because I can click anywhere and still find my way.
- Only included necessary pages.
- Functionality
- Some pictures take slightly longer to load but no other inconveniences other than that.
- Community building (social media)
- Instagram icon on the bottom.
- Visual design
- Rounded buttons look very modern
- Same colors and fonts used throughout the site
- Clean, high quality pictures
- Menu page should look more modern like the rest of the pages
- Bold, big text
- Content
- Great typographical hierarchy
- Nice divisions created with red boxes
- Their mission statement and introduction of owner is clear.
- More pictures of drinks/food are needed, especially on the menu page.
Call to action
on home page
View menu
button in the hero section.Order Online
button is on top right corner but can be made more noticeable.
- Navigation
Home
link is not needed.Upcoming Events
can be shorted to “Events”
- Functionality
- All links work, no inconveniences.
- Community building (social media)
- Social media icons right at the top in the nav bar.
- Visual design
- Uninteresting: no color scheme or pictures
- I can’t tell what their business/brand image is like at all because nothing is provided.
- Content
- Almost none. There is only a paragraph about the store and contact info.
Call to action
on home page
- Navigation
Home
should be reworded as the “About”page.Order Online
and Online Catering Now
only links to other online ordering platforms.- No logo to go back to home page.
- Functionality
Enter Site
page pops up way later which is confusing and unnecessary.- This site does not do anything except linking to other online ordering platforms (Chownow and ezcater).
- Community building (social media)
- Social media links in footer.
- Visual design
- Minimal, simple. Very to the point.
- No store logo, decorative pictures, or color scheme so not very interesting.
- Text for links needs to be bigger.
- Content
- Layout is not great. I thought they only sold merch on the website but they accept online ordering too.
- Home page can be more interesting with more photos and description but only product links are available.
Call to action
on home page
- Navigation
- Nav bar slides open on the top as you scroll down which isn’t necessary because there isn’t a long scroll and the sections are nicely divided.
Order Online
should be more emphasized, maybe make it a button
- Functionality
- I like how the products open on a panel (like a quick view and does not open in another page).
- Community building (social media)
- Social media links at bottom.