Kudler_Fine_Foods_Web_Design

Kudler Fine Foods Kudler Fine Foods is a family-owned business that came to life in 1998. The company currently operates three stores. Each store stocks a large array of fresh, homemade, and packaged products. The business hires associates knowledgeable in food and wines. The owner Kathy Kudler has one problem. She is not sure that her website is top-notch. She has asked a team of University of Phoenix students to critique her website and suggest improvements. Kathy wants her website to be at the top of search lists. Design Kudler website design uses a simple visual design in which it clearly states what the company is about. The colors are neutral and do not give the viewer an eye strain trying to maneuver their way through the website. The website is pleasing in that sense because the colors complement one another in when referring to a color scheme. Many websites are way too busy and can make it difficult to navigate and find what they are looking. Many times what would normally take five to 10 minutes doubles. The structure of the website design is consistent in respect to page surfing. However, one sees no unexpected image or out of place design that throws off the other subpages. The website usability is good because the user interface is clear and straight to the point. The website does not consist of flashy visual effects that distract or take away from the products themselves. It indeed focuses on the company and needs of the consumer. However, the website could do better in promoting the various types of brands they have by listing them out and adding links into which can inquire more about a particular wine or cheese. The one picture on each of the pages does not give the viewer a variety of options to figure out what one may be interested in purchasing. The website can be navigated by any age because of its simple and unblemished approach. The website gives off an elegance that delivers to the viewer a calm and relaxed feel. The aesthetics and functionality is there within and gives the website balance. In addition, the font, font size, and placement are good sizes and are easy to read and one does not have to squint to read. However, the link fonts could be bolder to stick out a little more so that it could be distinguishable from the rest of the website words. The website should use more hierarchical font style to emphasize what the company deems as the more important message they want their customers to remember. Furthermore, the website has many good qualities that enhance the website experience and does not take away from the goal and the purpose of the company website. The site is informative and can be used by all ages. No confusion or unnecessary add-on’s that would repel any individual avoid or want to come back to the website. It ultimately does the trick in marketing the company, but it would be nice for it to have a little more detail about the types and the number of products they carry in stock. Layout What is the purpose of the Kudler Fine Food website' Who are they trying to target' What are people looking for when they visit the site' The Kudler Fine Foods website needs to create a purpose. The first thing to keep in mind when designing a website is who will use the website. Kudler needs to determine the audience that they desire to attract to the site, and create a reason for them to go to the site. When looking at the site, the visitor cannot tell whether, it is a grocery store or a restaurant (www.articlesbase.com, 2011). Kudler website could have a weekly sales add, in-store coupons, and recipes posted on their website. This would give people a reason to visit. They have superior food; they pride themselves on serving or selling the best. They need to feature weekly or daily recipes that contain some of these awesome tasting foods. Kudler offers cooking classes given by professional chefs; a schedule of these classes needs to be posted on their website. Kudler offers an extensive collection of domestic and imported wines and spirits, a wine list needs to be posted on their site. They also offer monthly wine classes; this also needs to be posted. When visiting the Kudler Fine Food site the first thing that the eye catches is the giant running image banner in the middle of the page. The pictures are very professional and pleasing to the eye. It also goes very well with the feeling of the site however, it is too large. Each time the visitor clicks on an option on the menu bar the first thing he or she will see is the banner and he or she must scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the information he or she is seeking. The banner should either be at the top of the page with the pixel size of 675 x 150, or used in a column off to the side. They could also use pictures of their grocery stores and people in them; this would give their site a more personal feel and let the viewers know that they are visiting a grocery store website. This site is not visually consistent or well organized. They have their corporate information in two places on the site. This should appear on the page once. This information is not very pertinent to the site and therefore can be placed at the bottom of the page. Each page has a different structure, some have bullets and others are aligned differently. This is visually confusing to the viewer. They need a drop down roll over menu for each topic. If they will provide more information on their products and services they can create more topics to choose from. “Successful website layouts depend on many variables including consistent navigation, proper balance, use of space, and clear delivery of content” (Miller, 2011, para 1). Style The style of a website is just one of many elements necessary to make it user friendly. The client has expectations about the design and how his or her brand should be marketed. The elements should be consistent throughout the site (Define Web Design, 2010). This segment of the paper will review the brand, word choice, and element sizing and typography basics. The brand is the company product. People recognize the product by the logo the company uses. Some easily recognized logos are Apple, Coca Cola, and Adidas. Kudler Fine Foods is a small corporation that continues to grow. That continued growth will depend on the recognition of the company logo. The website is consistent with the placement of the logo in the same location on all pages. Word choice is important because the website is designed to explain what the products are and how they can be used together. Keeping the wording simple will make the user more comfortable with the site. The tone of the website is even throughout. Reading the descriptions of the departments within the site does not become monotonous. Typography refers to the type within certain areas of the web page. Body copy is the type contained in the body or informational part of the site. Display type refers to the heading of the site (McIntire, 2008). The Kudler Fine Foods site uses type that agrees with the location of the site. The headings are large enough to catch the eye. The type in the body of the site appears to be a Times New Roman (font size 12) that makes it easier to read. The fancy typography should be avoided in the body of the web page. After reviewing the website style, one suggestion is choosing words the visitor will understand. On the wine page, quintessential could be left out of the statement about martinis. The definition of quintessential is “the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form” according to the Miriam Webster Online Dictionary (2011).This word could be confusing to some users; however, Kudler Fine Foods could be targeting users with an education that goes beyond high school. Artistic Quality The artistic quality or aesthetics of a website helps to communicate to the viewer by way of the appearance of the site. The different items like color, the layout, graphics, and fonts help to create the aesthetics of a website (McIntire, 2008). A website needs to be pleasing to the eyes and easy to find that the viewer is looking for in the website. If the website does nothing for the viewer he or she may not return to the site for a second look. The layout of the Kudler Fine Foods Website is simple and easy to move around within the site. With the company logo at the top of each page helps to keep the customer to stay focused on the company. The logo with the part of the world map in the background also helps give the viewer the sense of shopping internationally. The whole web page is center-based making it easy to find the different departments of the store. The top center graphics is constantly changing helping to set the mood of the viewer. Next the viewer finds the department or section of the store that was selected from the top menu. In this area is a brief description of the department to strike the viewer’s interests and also includes a small picture of a product from that department. The color scheme and the graphics do not lead the customers mind away from the website but draws him or her in with the pictures of the different products that Kudler’s carries. The dark background and light text make the content easy to read and with the basic pictures makes the whole website pleasing to the eyes. On each page the site map is shown twice and once at the bottom of the page is enough in this case. In the locations section of the site map the locator map link is a good idea but is easily overlooked. If the color of the text was changed to a red, green or light blue the locator maps links of the three locations would stand out better. Also by moving the link of the Store locations up into the main menu line up may also help the customer to find the store closest to him or her. The owner may think about adding more items that the store carries both in the text and maybe in a few more pictures on each page. This site could be made to grow into a mail-order type site with links to the different departments with a list of the different foods, beverages, and cutlery items Kudler’s carries. This add is a good advertisement for the store and can be made to expand in the future. Fluidity and Performance Fluidity is the key with customer and viewer satisfaction regarding Website design. The navigation on Kudler is easily maneuverable, the tabs seem to be in all the obvious locations, and the page is clean so that it can move freely throughout the site. The only critique may be that there is no shopping tab, contact link or search source. It leaves the browser confused and spending valuable time looking for areas not displayed. Many viewers may leave the site because they cannot reach someone in short timing. Performance of the Kudler website is consistent, flashy, eye-catching and simple. It appears to move quickly and accurately between tabs, links, and information. The video play on every page performs very well, and even after they have sat on the page for a while, clicking the refresh button will again kick start the video. Understandably, this will happen with any website because programming restrictions has the video play for so long. One drawback to this site is the large amount of white space. Granted, not every image of the page needs to be filled, but when the scroll bar is at the top of the page, there is a great deal of blank space beneath the header causing the viewer to see nothing and must scroll down to find images, text, and color. This could be changed in several ways; expand image or text boxes, expand the header, change the background to be a ghosted back image – perhaps a map as is in the header title of the page. Marketing, E-commerce, and Community Marketing for Kudler Foods website is on a good track; however, there are some flaws to the site. First, there are not enough varied words to be included in a web browser search where the site would be offered as a suggestion to browsers. Also the images on the pages are superior with the detailed and close-range photography shots of food and cooking utensils. The negative is that there are no pictures of people. True, their images show exactly what the product is to consumers, but there is a minimum human interest element. The site could include more images of the stores and associates. Additionally, the site appears to have no alternative sponsors or links, which could be a negative thing. It does help the viewer stay focused on the product and company, but with the lack of additional sponsors or links of related companies or sites, it is safe to assume Kudler’s site is not listed on any other sites on the World Wide Web. Sponsor or suggested links are kind of a “Did you know” or “Hey, look at this” on sites that can be beneficial in taking customers to related sites they may not have thought to visit. Demonstrating a product is more of an art form than a necessity. Their website does a good job on showing the public about their food while explaining them. The idea of using pictures to help explain what the website is presenting also helps with selling their foods. The public will see how good it is and seeing is believing. The e-commerce of Kudler needs work. Customers of today want instant gratification. Schwan’s Food Delivery is a potential competitor of Kudler; they have an interactive site with testimonials, ordering information and many ways of delivery. Schwan’s site is about delivering their product to the people. Kudler limits their interaction with customers by not offering contact information, ordering links and delivery options. The only good point is that even though the visitor cannot buy their food straight from their website it shows the local stores that do carry their food. They provide maps to each location so that the public can find their way to a store closest to where they live. As mentioned in the above text, there seems to be little community outreach or involvement from the lack of sponsored links and no images of people; the target audience. The company does appear to be making progress for this level of business. They have just started a frequent shopper program that allows the community to get updates about Kudler foods. Customers will receive news about store events, featured products, and sales for their participation. In addition, they will be given exclusive offers on select merchandise and discounts on cooking and wine classes. Owner Kathy Kudler says, "We believe this will be a huge benefit to our most loyal customers" (Apollo Group, 2010, para 2). Conclusion The students have worked extremely hard to critique and make suggestions to Kathy about Kudler Fine Foods website. The team members approached the tasks with different ideas. Some looked more for the negative features and suggested improvements while other members of the team approached the task looking for the positive in the sight. Although the team members approached the task differently, they came to a consensus about changes to improve the site and make Kathy’s dream come true. References (2010). Define Web Design. Retrieved April 23, 2010 from http://www.definewebdesign.com/services/style-guides/ Apollo Group, Inc. (2010). Kudler Fine Foods. Retrieved from http://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/internet/wine.htm McIntire, P. (2008). Visual design for the modern Web. New Riders. Miller, E. (03/02/2011). Graphic Design. Retrieved from http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/examplesofsuccess/a/web_layouts1.htm Miriam-Webster Incorporated. (2011). 1. Quintessential - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster .... Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quintessential www.articlesbase.com. (12/10/2011). 5 Most important elements a website must possess. Retrieved from http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-article/5-most-important-elements-a-website-possess-677761.htm1#ixzz1JiCyKP9J