Project One Research

I will focus on the Mezcalero restaurant located in Downtown Los Angeles, where their specialty is focused on mezcal and as well provides some Mexican style dishes. Their visual design is based on their typography where the term mezcalero is hand painted to reflect the Oaxacan hand painted signs of that region. The main color stems from the logo itself which is yellow and orange which drives everything else for the website visually. The content itself goes directly to hours of operation and the food menu, which can be ordered online for take out. This is followed by further purchases of a gift card followed by pictures of spirits and food items. The website menu buttons consist of location, gift card, dine-in menu, and order online. This is great information but the user can potentially be lost where exactly they are located in the website, since almost every page looks the same.

It is the restaurant dine-in and take out menu that is the call to action. The website wants the user to see the items that are for sale, like the tacos, burritos, and possible spirits. The navigation itself is simple enough but seems to provide too many options right away for the user. The website immediately presents the user with all of what a restaurant has to offer and can potentially provide too much information for the audience, this can be minimized. Which brings up the function, the website not provides general information about the restaurant but as well as an online menu since the restaurant does not use a paper menu.

For its social media presence, it already has a good number of people following the restaurant and is very much known in the area. It is followed by local foodies and other social media DTLA entities that promote downtown itself.

Goals and Taret Audience

The goal is to bring more people into the restaurant during the week, given that the weekend is the most popular day to go. But as well try to reach new people, most of the current guests are locals, so they are already within the downtown area. Reaching out to people who are outside the downtown area will provide additional guests to come in. Some questions that need to be answered: Are the new guest interested in spirits like mezcal? Are our current visitors visiting from outside the city? What are people looking for in our menu?

In order to get a complete picture of the website is to map a flowchart of how the current website operates, to get a better understanding how the information is presented. So then that information could be simplified and determine what is useful. This can possibly be completed in a 12 week time frame.

Competive Analysis

Mikaza

Mikaza restaurant focuses on an asian fusion style dish for their guests. The website itself mainly consists of two menu options of ordering and looking at the full menu. The menu lists all their different sushi items and spirits that the restaurant offers while the ordering button focuses on take-out orders. The information provided at the website is organized in a very simple and direct way that tells the guest the ingredients, price, and picture. The call to action will be to buy the food items for take out so people can quickly receive their meal. The main function of the site is to receive orders for take-out, general operating hours, and full menu of the restaurant. Its social media presence also gives an updated information of new items that are in the menu and potential specials.

Guisados

Guisados focuses on tacos and a variety of locations within the Los Angeles area, as well in downtown Los Angeles. The website functions to give out general information about all the different Guisados locations and operating hours. Its website gives a short story how Guisados started and their mission as a restaurant. Their visual approach mostly consists of black, white, and red to give it a consistent look throughout the site. The menu buttons consist of a mission statement, locations, apparel, and finally the food menu. It is in the food menu section where you have all of the information about the tacos and other items. The food menu seems a bit hidden from the rest, but once you have reached it you have a choice for take out, and plenty of pictures of what the food looks like.

Las Perlas

Las Perlas focuses on spirits and occasionally focuses on food on the weekend. It only contains the menu button of a home page and FAQ page. The home page contains general information on where it is located and operating hours, followed by embedded instagram pictures. Overall it is a very easy navigation. Its main call to action is to visit the establishment itself, since there are no take-out orders for this location. Its visual approach consists of black, green, and white; that gives a great polish look. It as well has a social media presence that keeps guest coming back to the establishment.

The Perch

The Perch which is located close to Mezcalero has food and spirits and is focused on a more fine dining experience. The main home page immediately gives you a lot of information to begin with, but what is captured the most are the photos of the location which is located on the 13th floor with a great view of the many skyscrapers of downtown. The call to action is to dine-in at The Perch and stay for the ambiance and scenery it offers. The menu buttons consist of the food menu, delivery option, gallery, events, contact, and reservation. It presents the user with many options and indicates it is more than a restaurant, but also a location to rent out for special events. It presents so much information to the user that it can be overwhelming in the main page as well as in the navigation of it. There many links can take you to so many locations within the site. Its social media presence is also vibrant, many people engage with some of the post The Perch provides and has a good amount of followers.