Kinoyume is a beautiful Japanese restaurant in the heart of La Jolla in San Diego. It caters to the friendly locals who have seen the restaurant experience changes in ownership and layout, as well as the UC San Diego students who crave simple, delicious Japanese food. While their food speaks for itself, their online presence falls a bit short of expectations. While speaking to them, we were urged to help them promote their jaw dropping food and reflect their values as a local business. Currently, Kinoyume's current website does not effectively communicate who they are as a restaurant and complicates their user’s experiences.
We wanted to get an idea of what Kinoyume's goals were for this website and what their current struggles were. We were able to get that they were an honest business who wanted their food to speak for itself. They also heavily emphasized that they wanted to maintain good relationships with their current clientele.
Create a website that has a well defined color scheme and branding, which will consequently tell the restaurant's story and background
Simplify the menu page and design an easier way for customers to make reservations
Present and attract customers with a simple, yet aesthetically appealing website
We visited Kinoyume on a busy Friday evening to gather feedback on their website. We interviewed 20 customers including UCSD students, tourists, and locals. Besides identifying flaws in the current website, these interviews helped us uncover customer preferences and requirements. Based on the interviews, we created user scenarios and compiled a list of use cases, features, and functionalities in a table.
In our comprehensive competitive analysis, we went beyond user interviews to gain a holistic understanding of the landscape in which our product operates. To effectively evaluate the market, we created two tables focusing on use cases and features and functionalities.
We identified five key competitors and meticulously examined their branding, functionality, site architecture, navigation, and content. This in-depth analysis provided us with valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor, allowing us to identify opportunities for differentiation and improvement within our own website.
Sandpiper impresses with its calm and inviting branding, using a bird silhouette and a Fairweather-like font. Functionally, the website offers a straightforward reservation process and a mobile-friendly hamburger menu for easy navigation. Notable features include the use of good quality interior pictures and a 360 virtual tour, providing an immersive experience for users. Sandpiper's site balances approachability with an upscale feel, focusing on visibility and effectively showcasing their offerings.
Urbn Sushi presents a visually appealing brand identity with a black and white fish skeleton logo and a clear navigation bar. Functionally, the website includes a calendar feature for reservations, links to social media platforms, and an invitation for user subscriptions. The site architecture emphasizes the menu, with a view menu function and easy access to online ordering. Urbn Sushi's clean and straightforward design creates a friendly atmosphere, while interactive elements like pop-ups and an interactable drink menu encourage user engagement.
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Soichi Sushi stands out with its professional branding, featuring a clean logo with two fish and a simple font. The website's functionality includes direct contact options for user feedback, well-organized menu sections, and a focus on bringing in customers rather than the website itself. With an optimized electronic menu, elegant content presentation, and a unique About page featuring the chef, Soichi Sushi creates a sense of nobility, attention to detail, and amiability in their brand.
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Shiku Sushi Bar features a modern and confident brand identity with a black and white fish logo on a red square. The website's functionality includes pop-ups for specials, direct contact options for user feedback, and a subscription invitation for increased interactivity. The site architecture prioritizes ease of navigation, with a hamburger menu, a top menu bar, and a bottom bar for essential features like online ordering. Shiku Sushi Bar's bold and high contrast design effectively communicates information with clarity, and their Contact Us page stands out for its simplicity and hassle-free contact methods.
Nozomi Sushi impresses with its minimalist branding, featuring a black and white logo and high-quality food imagery, conveying a modern and confident identity. The site's navigation is user-friendly, with a dynamic hamburger menu and clear labeling, prioritizing key actions. Noteworthy features include a seamless reservation process, convenient access to social media and online ordering, and a well-organized Hours & Locations section. Nozomi's simple and straightforward design, combined with a focus on usability, showcases their timeless and welcoming brand identity.
After scoping out what features were essential for the website and how they would work, we began implementing them. This was followed by rounds of tests and interviews with the clients as well as others.
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Through the iterative process, our home page went through a series of changes. As a home page, it should encapsulate what the restaurant is while hooking viewers in. Originally, we utilized images of the establishment in order to give a taste of what customers could expect, but this decreased the visibility of certain elements and would be deemed too mundane and unoriginal. For our final design, we prioritized the functionality and discoverability of our call-to-action buttons while intriguing users with images of the food.
The layout of our reservation page was changed to a dropdown menu for the purpose of reducing the number of movements users need to make. The dropdown menu allowed easier access to switching months, seeing available times, as well as having a better way of being notified that a specific date does not have any open reservations.
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Feedback regarding our mobile prototype revealed that some of the pages (e.g. the menu) seemed cluttered and took away from the main purpose of the page. We would later organize the "Our Story" page to be more engaging by including more visuals and graphics, as well as organizing the layout of the typography.
Our final home page contains an animated slideshow of different dishes, specialty dishes, as well as a map on how to get to the restaurant.
We maintained a high level of information when users wanted to view and order through the menu, consisting of a menu sorting carousel and customization of menu items.
Customers can swiftly select dates and times for future dining.
A high point on desktop for career descriptions is that they can expand/hide to reduce mass reading when not wanted.
This project provided valuable insights into managing client expectations. It highlighted the non-linear nature of design methods and the need for flexibility in decision making. Collaborating with Kinoyume taught out team the delicate balance between understanding the client's vision and leveraging our design expertise. We recognized the ever-changing nature of ideas and the importance of gathering feedback and conducting research to inform our design choices, while also ensuring client satisfaction.