The Original Farmer’s Market
First Impressions:
It really does feel like the original farmer’s market with how dated the site appears at first, but the more you explore the site, the more you realize how rich it is in content and features. I think it’s the best candidate for a redesign because the functions and content are there, but the visual design and the organization of the site needs work.
Visual Design: 4
Content: 10
Home Page “Call to Action”:
Misleading green ribbon in the foreground that isn’t clickable, but the smaller orange banner to the right is.
Navigation:
There is a lot of information on every page, so navigation takes some time to get used to, but once you know where everything is, finding the page you were looking for is very quick.
Functionality:
Google Maps integration, Calendar, Youtube videos and image previews, search bar, change language, merchandise store, and online grocery delivery.
Social Media:
Updated regularly, with large presence in Facebook and Instagram(40k and 20k respectively)
Mercado la Paloma
First Impressions:
Much more minimalistic than OFM, with the hero images showing off what the place and food is like rather than advertising key happenings at the location. The site does a good job of feeling less cluttered at first sight, but there is a lot less content than OFM. Color palette is a lot more simplified, using mainly red and white.
Visual Design: 8
Content: 6
Home Page “Call to Action”:
Learn more about the food hall itself, or the shops and restaurants and any events being held.
Navigation:
Very easy to navigate where you need to go, nested navigation menu feels like it takes up less space because more negative space is used.
Functionality:
Some content is not filled out, leaving lorem ipsum text.
Social Media:
Only Instagram and Facebook, with the last post on instagram being in 2017. Very small social media presence.
Grand Central Market
First Impressions:
This site seems to have a bit of what makes OFM and MLP great(features and visual design respectively), but doesn’t do either one any better. The footer of the homepage uses an additional set of colors that don’t work with the rest of the site, and the shade of gray used for the main branding lacks personality. What doesn’t work for me is the vendors page being completely monochrome unless you hover over a certain vendor.
Visual Design: 7
Content: 6
Home Page “Call to Action”:
View the vendors at this food hall.
Navigation:
Vendors are sorted from A-Z by default, but you can search or sort by what they serve, and then view the map to find where they’re located.
Functionality:
The interactive map is unique amongst the sites, and makes it a lot easier to find stalls in relation to one another. Every vendor page has a map highlighting where the stall is, but it’s not interactive like this one.
Social Media:
Regular posts on FB, IG, and Twitter, with the biggest following being on Instagram(160k+ followers).
Smorgasburg Los Angeles
First Impressions:
The entire site seems to be completely encapsulated by the home page and is pretty sparse for information. It’s well organized and the visual design is pleasing, but the site lacks a lot of amenities that make the others so great.
Visual Design: 10
Content: 4
Clicking on vendors only links to their social media, no food hall map, and very little information about the food hall itself.
Home Page “Call to Action”:
Mainly just to tell the user where the food hall is and how to get there using Google Maps.
Navigation:
Key info like what sorts of vendors are there or how to get to the food hall is just found by scrolling down the homepage, other than that the pages in the navigation menu don’t lead anywhere past the page you’re immediately directed to.
Functionality:
Link to Google Maps, links to Vendor instagram pages, and a newsletter.
Social Media:
Large presence on Instagram, 230k followers and regular posts.
