Final Worksheet For Redesign of Russ and Daughters website

This website aims to promote Russ and Daughters to the public, and represent the bagel shop as an iconic, must-visit food store to explore in Manhattan.

• Key to the success of the site will be the 'taste' factor. The site needs to be appetizing. Either through great photography or clever representation with illustration.
  
• A map will be important so people can find out how to visit.
  
• The visual design of the site should play on the heritage of the store, which has been operating since the early 20th Century. The storefront itself is iconic and captures the Lower East Side aesthetic. Perhaps the feel of the design could incorporate the heritage of the store juxtaposed with what it is like to visit the shop today?
  

Questions

Target Audience

1. Tourists to New York who haven’t visited the store
2. Customers wanting to purchase online
3. People who have visited once or twice, or merely passed by, but want to learn more about the history of the shop and what else they offer.

• Presumably the faithful clientele of the shop wouldn’t be looking at the website.

Problems and Solutions

1. What’s not working for the site at the moment, what opportunities are being missed to tell the story and sell the products?
   • The characters working behind the counter is what makes the experience special. Using some day-to-day quotes overheard in the store would really tell the story of the shop well.
   • The current site feels a bit cold and business-like. The imagery is rich and interesting, but is not utilized to be engaging, should be bigger, even interactive in some way?
   • The aesthetic could play up the gritty, utilitarian feel of the lower east side. Needs more texture and a tactile quality to give a sense of context and also of the delicious food within!
2. How to contain a lot of content about all of the different items they sell and services they offer in an organized and easily navigated way?
   • The homepage should have clear navigation at the top, even if the rest of the site is more colorful and engaging. Just need to make sure the nav still feels integrated, through typographic treatment or color.

Inspiration from sites that manage content well and tell a story

1. Market Lane Coffee
   • Images upfront give character to the faces behind the coffee. E-store is also well organized, engaging and easy to find.
2. Tenement Museum
   • A lot of information is presented clearly without loosing character. Use of type and color is particularly effective and reinforcing the historic photos on almost every page. The story is almost always present where content is present.
3. Creative Space
   • I like the use of imagery for the background, gives a feel for space and context

Wireframes

Photoshop Comp

User Testing