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Roles
CMS Implementation, HTML, CSS, Design, Strategy Concept / Story
Hunan Gourmet is one of the oldest restaurants on Route 9 in Manalapan, NJ. Serving over 20 years of traditional Chinese and Japanese cuisine, there was a lot of history all in one place. As a starting point for the direction of design & concept, I came up with a story that combined general Asian history with their logo, a Koi fish encapsulated in a bowl. To summarize the story, it involves the fish and its journey through the waters of the Far East where it witnesses people trading spices, buying food, and preparing for the night's feast. Using this concept as inspiration and direction, all the design elements fell into place. Extracting the fish from the bowl and placing it into a pond surrounded by cherry blossoms and other vegetation provided a way for me to bring the branding to life.  Hunan Gourmet Home Page  Interactive Directions
Strategy
The site was probably one of the first Chinese restaurants in NJ to be built on a CMS platform (Joomla). Instead of going the Flash route, like most middle-to-upper class establishments, the CMS empowered management to update their site on their own and at a higher frequency. Also, it enabled the restaurant to establish a mailing list, where coupons could be emailed out. This helped cut costs in running print ads in the local circular. As of January 10th, Hunan has over 160 registered users receiving coupons, updates on the week's chef specials, and other information that engages its audience. Mood Boarding
To get a head start on the direction of design, I created a mood board representing Hunan Gourmet's general audience. I usually wouldn't do this without intense research, but I've worked at Hunan as a part-time bartender for the over 4 years and I have a good idea as to what the customers want and what they expect. After going through a dozen random magazines, I came up with the following board. The goal of this activity was to create an artifact to help guide the look and feel of the website. For more on mood boards and why they are useful, check out what LifeClever.com has to say.  Mood Board for Hunan Gourmet Feedback
For feedback, the site was posted in Joomla's Site Showcase and so far, the comments have been positive. "Artistic and simple. Your design is truly beautiful." - John Rabb
"Design suits the purpose and it looks great." - Tear_Drop
Thank You!...
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Joomla! Content Management System |
