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30 Minute Redesign #97: Man in the Moon

Today I’m going to be redesigning Man in the Moon, a new York based bakery and cafe.

The Original Design:

You can see the original site design below:

You can check out the original website here: Man in the Moon

First Impressions: Strengths

Every site has some merits, and the good impressions I made here are these:

Great Brand/Logo

The thing that first struck me about this website was how cool the logo was. It’s really unique and memorable and helps to instantly start establishing the bakery’s brand.

The ornate golden text and illustrative logo are really well designed and have a charming, fantasy feel to them.

The logo also serves the dual purpose of clarifying what the business does.

Attempts at Product Promotion

Whilst it’s not a huge factor in the current homepage, it is good to see Man in the Moon promoting their products via a relevant photo. For this type of business it is CRUCIAL to post nice photos of your product range to entice and attract potential customers.

The image of cupcakes could be a lot more nicely presented, but it’s a decent start, and something to build upon.

Relevant Information Explaining the Shop

It’s good to see Man in the Moon using explanatory text selling their business right on the homepage.

Many sites don’t make it clear exactly what they’re offering, so it’s definitely a positive that Man in the Moon does go into detail.

First Impressions: Weaknesses

Of course no website is perfect, and our site’s often make negative first impressions upon readers without us even realizing! Here are the negative first impressions I received from this site:

Overly Colorful, Distracting Layout

The main issue with Man in the Moon is that the layout is totally over-colorful and down right garish! It’s so bright and distracting that it totally detracts from the content.

Regardless of the type of bakery they are running, this layout feels more like a fun fair, and definitely not appropriate for their business.

The various shapes, colors and symbols all seem to clash, and have very little to do with the content available.

Text Overload

Man in the Moon currently has WAY too much text on it’s homepage. The area explaining the nature of the company should be massively cut down, and the sub headings in the sidebar should be reserved for a subpage.

At the moment it’s the classic example – if there is too much text, people won’t read any of it.

Cut down the text to your main key points.

Not Pushing Products Enough

Whilst there is a product photo on the homepage, it’s not particularly enticing.

For this type of shop (much like with a physical shop) you want to have your customers salivating at the site of your products. They should be the absolute forefront of your website and the biggest draw to get people to part with their cash.

Think less ‘plain 2D looking photo’ and more ‘reach out and grab it’.

My Redesign Proposal

You can see my redesign proposal below:

Let’s look at some of my aims for the redesign:

More Appropriate Colors

The colors were totally damaging the original design and making it unsightly and garish. In my redesign I opted for colors that compliment the elegant logo. The black/gold color palette is fitting for the business’s brand, and the bokeh background provides a sense of magic for the website. The bokeh marks also visually compliment the round moon shape in the logo.

Overall the new color palette helps their business come across as professional, unique and intriguing, rather than a cheap fun fare.

Pushes Products

In my redesign one of my main aims was to really push their range of delicate products. By putting the products at the forefront of the site using a bold slideshow area, potential customers are able to get an up-close look at the product range.

By having a stand-alone ‘cut out’ product image I was able to make the product feel more 3D and ‘touchable’, rather than a standard flat photo. This should trigger a response in the visitor as they are more able to imagine touching and eating the cakes on offer.

Clearer Menu Area

The menu is definitely an issue in the current website, as the links are pushed above the layout right to the top of the site and feel like a bit of an after thought.

In my redesign a created a bolder, more prominent menu area that should make it easier for your visitors to browse your website. I also edited the menu links, as the current links are somewhat confusing (I’m still not sure what ‘update’ is for).

Suggest Your Own Site for a Redesign

You can have the chance to have your website redesigned in next weeks post. All you need to do is leave a comment to this post with your website address and why you think it needs a redesign.

About the Author:

Tom is the chief editor at Blogs.FanExtra and founder of the FanExtra network. He loves interacting with the community, so if you have any questions hit up the contact page and he'll get back to you.

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