Website chosen to rename and rebrand: http://www.hidesushi.com/

The whole website is very bland and not well designed. It doesn’t match the quality of the food or showcase how great this sushi restaurant is. The pages have an assortment of font sizes and it’s kind of hard to read. There are too many clicks to get to what you’re looking for. It could use more information about the restaurant and show more pictures of the food. The main page has adobe flash player issues. Most of the important content is there but it’s very bland.

Competitive Analysis:

Website 1 - http://hashirisf.com/

The design is smooth and clean. They use cool responsive design techniques that make it easy to maneuver through the content and access a good amount of information in one scroll. Several clear images and subtle color scheme. Top navigation bar has a reservations link, allowing the viewer to easily make a reservation online. Most content is loaded on to one page with the exception of the menu & reservations. The social media links & handles are located at the footer of the site.

Website 2 - http://www.manekirestaurant.com/

Simple but informative layout. Most important info (hours & contact) on the top right of the page. The navigation is on the left side a pop-up menu shows when hovering over each option, which is nice so you don’t need to leave the home page. There isn’t necessarily a ‘call to action’ feature but the reservation phone number is located on the main menu navigation. There is a ‘social media’ link at the bottom which directs you directly to their Facebook.

Website 3 - http://akikosrestaurant.com/

The front page shows large slides of images of the restaurant. It made me hungry looking at this website. To navigate through the website, a navigation bar pops up on the left when you bring your mouse over to the three dots on the left indicating there’s a list there. The content is informative and short and each page is cleanly designed. The social media icons are located at the bottom of the navigation. Very simple and clean to look at.

Website 4 - http://bamboosushi.com/

When the page loads, an animation of the ocean takes over the screen and the restaurant’s mission is written in the center. The navigation is unique, with each link located on each side of the page. There is also an additional button that takes you to a full navigation page, which includes links to social media and links to order online, reserve a table, purchase a gift card, etc. Each page is shown in slides. Overall, the visual design is very smooth and easy to navigate.

Goals:

Goals for Hide sushi include redesigning the website to showcase their popular menu and rich history to interest seafood and sushi enthusiasts to come and visit.

Target audience: Sushi enthusiasts and seafood enthusiasts.

Questions to answer/issues to resolve:
I would need more history on the restaurant to add to the content already on the page.
Detailed descriptions of the menu.
What kind of seafood/sushi do enthusiasts want to try/see?
How do people want to navigate a sushi restaurant website?
What features should be offered on the website?