Project #1: Market Research

I chose to redesign the existing website of Mon Amour Café, it’s a laid-back, French-inspired cafe that offers a variety of sweet & savory crêpes. It’s located at Westwood village (927 Broxton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024).

Heuristic Analysis

Homepage

• You can get the gist of the site by looking just a few seconds on the homepage.

• The company logo easy to find and its link back to the homepage.

• There is a tagline that makes the organization’s purpose clear (A Taste of Paris in LA).

• The site is making a fair use of the homepage real estate but it can be better.

• It’s easy to see what you can do on the site.

Navigation

• The primary navigation is easy to find, it’s located in the middle of the page.

• The navigation main labels are not clear, and there are no sub-labels.

• There are only 4 items (Home - Crêpes – Macarons – Location).

• It is easy to see what’s clickable and what’s not.

• There is no site search in case users can’t see what they’re looking for in the navigation.

Accessibility

• The site takes 5 to 8 seconds to load.

• The text is easy to read in contrast to the background.

• The website does not use ALT tags to help sight-impaired and search engines.

• The website is hard to use on phone and tablet (not responsive).

Content Quality

• The headings are not clear and descriptive.

• The content is easy to scan, and there is no industry jargon.

• The content tone is friendly, and I think it’s appropriate for the brand.

• There is an area for specific types of audiences (gluten free).

Visual Design

• The styles and colors are consistent but there is no harmony.

• There is no emphasis or hierarchy.

• The look and feel of the site do not seem to fit the brand.

• The visuals seem to be outdated.

• The visual design does not support the usability at all

Features & Functionality

• There is no special features or functionality that make the site easier, or more enjoyable to use.

Competitive Analysis

  Cre8Crepes

• Visual design: simple layout, prominent colors, and a lot of negative space.

• Content: easy to scan.

• Navigation: clear, interactive, search bar, no subhead.

• Functionality: responsive, site search

• Community building: social media icons located on the footer (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and yelp)

KC's Crêpes Café

• Visual design: multi column grid layout with a lot of white space.

• Content: easy to navigate and scan, missing a lot of menu item images.

• Navigation: fixed hamburger menu located in the middle of the page.
  

• Functionality: not responsive.
  

• Community building: social media icons located in the middle of the homepage.

 The FrenchCrepe Company

• Visual design: clean and organized .

• Content: call to action exist on the homepage.

• Navigation: fixed navigation with prominent colors and subheads.

• Functionality: responsive and site search.

• Community building: social media icons located on the footer.

Goals & Target Audience

• What are the client’s business goals for the site?

The short-term goal is to attract more freshmen student every year, and the long-term goal is to become number one crepes shop in Los Angeles.

• Who’s the Target Audience?

UCLA student, and/or anyone who lives in Westwood village.