Design Review
Design Review is a new feature focused on enlightening subscribers about common web design mistakes and new techniques through constructive critiques. Stay tuned to Design Review as we address a different niche each month. This month’s Design Review is a great example of a traditional business that is just starting to establish an online presence.
Elyse’s Catering & Events
For this month’s review I selected Elyse’s Catering & Events’ website, because I feel it is great example of a traditional business that is just starting to establish an online presence. Most businesses start to build their online presence with a static page similar to this. Taking that into consideration, Elyse’s has done many things well on the design of their site. Let’s take a look at the design.
Positives
Photography
The first thing I noticed when visiting this site was its amazing photography. The photos are without a doubt the site’s strongest element, and provide the “wow” factor for visitors.
Logo Position
Not only is the logo in the customary position, but it also uses a tagline to let visitors know what Elyse’s is all about.
Trust Symbols
Trust symbols are a great way to establish instant creditability. Though I might have displayed them a little differently, having them on the home page is a positive.
Focus
This site does a good job of maintaining focus for each page on the site. The home page tells me the three things I want to know most: who are they, what’s their experience, and what do they offer.
Room for Improvement
Page Does Not Center
The home page photos show sophisticated dishes and do a great job of establishing credibility, unfortunately the left justified page undermines this to some degree.
Color
Since this is a food site, I find the choice of blue a bit odd. I feel the site would be more appetizing if a warm color scheme, such as orange, red, or rich brown, was used instead of blue.
Typography
I feel there needs to be a more consistent use of typography on the site. I quickly counted five different typefaces used. This site would be more successful if was limited to three typefaces. Given the formal nature of the site, I feel a serif reading typeface accompanied by a bold script typeface for titles would be appropriate.
Updates
More Photos
As I mentioned, this site’s photos are its greatest strength. This site would be more effective if it made its photos more prominent. I would like to see these photos used to build a background banner above and behind the site’s main content box. It would also be a good idea to incorporate the logo and top navigation into the banner photo in some way.
Advanced Grid
While I enjoy the “white space” in the design of this page, I do not feel there is enough content on the home page to justify scrolling. I believe this site would have a more modern appeal if the home page content was organized to fit entirely above the fold.
Web Design By:
Katrin Rippel
Menu International
To reach new customers, you’ve got to speak their language.Reach in…to your local communities. Reach out…to your international visitors and guests. We’re MENU International, and we help you expand your markets with translation and marketing services for the food and hospitality industry.
Design Review is a monthly web design critique selected from submissions by our Top One subscribers. If you would like to submit an original web design for critique, please email your name, website, and contact information to [email protected].
The views expressed in this article are intended to be constructive, and are those of the author alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of toponereport.com or its staff, nor do they represent the views or opinions of InfoMedia, Inc.
