ROLE Web Designer | Competitive Research | Ideation | Visual Design
DURATION March 2021 - September 2022
TOOLS WordPress
Overview
Cajun Craven is a family owned seafood restaurant serving a fusion of Vietnamese and Cajun cuisine in the south-east area of Houston, TX for over 14 years.
Business Objective
An online presence where customers can easily access to get information about the restaurant: about page, contact info, menu page, location + hours as well as an easy way to order online. Client is also going paperless on menus, and wanted a QR code for customers to scan that links directly to their menu page.
Target Audience
Men + Women all ages
Family + Friends
People who enjoy eating Viet-Cajun seafood
Competitive Research
Before beginning the website design, I conducted research on my client’s competitors. I went on their websites and analyzed what works and what doesn’t. I looked for what pages and contents I should include in my client’s website. Almost all the competitors had a pretty simple straight-forward website where they had a brief about me, location + hours, and their menu.
Crawfish & Noodles has a visually appealing homepage.
Gap: “Menu” page isn’t clear, and the top tab navigation texts are not readable.
Crawfish Café has an easy navigation.
Gap: Website styling lacks consistency.
Reel Seafood & Bar has a straight-forward and simple homepage.
Gap: Styling is inconsistent, “My Account” page is empty.
Ideation
After conducting competitive research, I started to map out different variations of content layout that my client wanted to include in the homepage. I communicated with my client throughout this entire process to make sure she was happy with the layout.
Final Web Design
Moving forward with the chosen layout, I jumped into WordPress and created the website. My client wanted a simple, easy to navigate website for her customers.
View full website here.
Style Guide
Conclusion + Reflections
When I first started the project, I felt pretty intimidated because I knew nothing about creating a website. I had to look up everything! From creating a domain to navigating through WordPress. I learned so much throughout the whole project thanks to Google and YouTube. Overall, my client was very happy about the final design and how I was communicating with her through the entire process. She loved how simple and clean it looked and gave me positive feedback. I continued to update the website whenever my client needed and did any iterations to make the website look better.
Things I would’ve done differently:
Plan ahead. Going into this project, I felt like I was on a time crunch because I knew my client needed it for their customers to access ASAP. One thing I’d do differently is spend more time planning the site structure and functionality before diving into WordPress. I initially chose a theme and started customizing it without fully mapping out the content hierarchy and required plugins. This led to some inefficiencies and unnecessary revisions. Next time, I’ll create a detailed sitemap, choose the right tools in advance, and ensure everything aligns with the site’s goals.