Project Title:

BurgerEarth

Project Goal:

To create a visually- and information-rich web-based hub for the niche interest of Burgers.

Target Audience:

BurgerEarth aims to be of use to anybody with any interest in any aspect of burgers; venues / recipes / ingredients / techniques / general information. Any person old enough to eat a burger is within the potential target audience. Further, according to research people put high levels of trust in online sources of information about food, such as venue reviews and recipes (Batchelder 2012). BurgerEarth’s content of recipes, venue and ingredients reviews takes advantage of this trend, and endeavours to provide high quality information to its users.

WEBSITE CONTENT:

The website page map will start with a homepage consisting of appealing visuals, links to other pages, and links to social media. There will be ample space left to include a changing banner for updating notifications and new additions. Pages linked to the homepage will be:

• ‘Venues’ – consisting of reviews and information about burger venues.
• ‘Vouchers’ – linked to specific venues on the venue page, vouchers can offer users discounts at their chosen venue.
• ‘Recipes’ – recipes and critiques for burgers, including specific burgers from venues - with links to the venue review. Each recipe’s ingredients list will also have links to specific items in the ‘Ingredients’ page.
• ‘Ingredients’ – critiques and analyses of the best burger ingredients.
• ‘About / Contact’ – information about BurgerEarth with a simple form to give users the opportunity to submit suggestions / requests.

WEBSITE CONTENT RATIONALE:

Whilst high importance is given to pleasing visuals and rich dynamic media wherever possible, the foremost design approach of a website is should be functionality (McNeil 2012, 8). Each section of BurgerEarth is a function that offers a service to a user, in the form of information. The structuring of the information will aim to deliver this service as efficiently as possible. While each element of each page will be designed with aesthetics in mind, the inclusion of that element to begin is dependent on it’s functionality.

VISUAL TREATMENT:

BurgerEarth will attempt to emulate a ‘foodie’ themed website, similar to restaurants or gourmet epicurean magazines. Crisp close-up photographs of fresh brightly coloured foods under natural lighting will be preferred as images of the site. Simple clear bright symbol icons will form the click-able buttons. Text will be minimalistic except where appropriate such as narrative reviews. Colour palettes will be based on the burger colours of the logo. Final product theme should present a user experience synonymous to perusing a gourmet magazine.

VISUAL TREATMENT RATIONALE:

Spacious page layout will give focus to individual page elements. Choice of photographs will be based on content as relative to BurgerEarth, dominant colours as relative to the site’s colour scheme, and composition as relative to a gourmet food theme. All functional elements will be symbolic and simple with minimal text, to enhance the ease of a user’s experience. Clearly defined information sections of the website will be grouped together as pages, with links between them where appropriate. A user will know where to go to get exactly what they want with an absolute minimum of instruction (Krug 2006, 15).