edelweiss bakery

website redesign

CATEGORY
Web Design

DELIVERABLES
A responsive website and clickable prototype designed for two or more breakpoints (mobile and desktop) in Figma.

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Have you ever sat down in a restaurant and thought that the menu was so badly designed that you were tempted to redesign it and give it to them for free? That is exactly what you will be doing with this project, except with a website or app. In this scenario, you are working as a freelance designer trying to build up your client base. Select a website or app of your choice to redesign and improve the experience of to practice your skills, have fun, and create something to show potential clients.

SOLUTION

I chose to redesign the website for Edelweiss Bakery, a small family-owned bakery close to my house. My family enjoys buying cakes and desserts from them, but I noticed how badly organized and difficult to navigate their website is. I sought to improve the user experience by reorganizing the site pages and information. I also utilized higher-quality images and writing and included micro-interactions to add interest and interactivity to the user experience.

before redesign

edited before edelweiss home.jpg
edited before edelweiss european-tortes.png
edited before edelweiss hours-loc.png

redesigned pages

I think it’s a bit ironic that a banner at the top of their website says “Welcome to our newly updated website, we hope that you find it more mobile friendly,” because although the mobile version displays a little better, the whole website is still badly organized and difficult to navigate.

The first issues I noticed with their current website were:

  • Awkward scale and organization of the homepage elements

  • Low-quality photographs to feature their baked goods.  

  • Typestyling is a bit ugly and very ineffective.

  • Awkward size of the navigation bar, lacking important pages

  • Overcrowded page footer

My website for them:

  • Has a more logical homepage layout

  • Showcases the best, most appetizing photos of their goods.

  • Simplified navigation at the top of the page

  • Simplified footer with easy-to-access hours, location, and contact information

They had no designated page to organize their entire menu, making it hard to see what they offered.

I created a separate Menu tab with different sections that:

  • Clarifies what kinds of goods the bakery offers

  • Provides all the information you might need about ordering them. 

The old website allows you to place an order online, but with:

  • One long order form

  • No photos or information about the items.

To make ordering online easier, the new website:

  • Uses an industry-standard online ordering format

  • Allows you to add items to your cart from the menu pages.

Another issue I found was with their “about us” page:

  • Confusing location: found through a button on the homepage labeled “store hours and location”

  • Not included in navigation bar

To solve this I:

  • Relocated hours and location information to the page footer for easy access

  • Created a separate About page

  • Included descriptions of their story and methods

  • Featured photos of the owners and storefront

The old website was:

  • dark

  • busy

  • disorganized

  • unappealing

  • confusing

  • dated style

The new website is:

  • bright

  • simple

  • easy to navigate

  • clean

  • elegant

I wanted to maintain the character and personality of their brand by:

  • Utilizing their brand fonts and colors

  • Retaining their current logo

  • Used information and photos from the bakery and customer reviews.

I would love to be officially hired by Edelweiss Bakery to update their website because I like supporting such a great small business and having a more effective website could help them gain more customers.