Harajuku Taphouse

A Craft Beer Izakaya Restaurant

Challenge

For my web design class we were tasked to redesign the website of a local Los Angeles restaurant. I chose Harajuku Taproom in Culver City. My goal was to improve the organization of information and to better represent the mood and style of the restaurant. For the purposes of this class, I changed the name to Harajuku Taphouse.

Role

Web Design, Research, Visual Design, Prototyping

Timeline

March 18, 2019 – June 02, 2019

Tools

Sublime, Html, CSS, Illustrator

Project Goals

Reorganize information for improved usability
Emphasize Japanese influence and beer selection
Update visual design to be more approachable
Rebrand business name and logo
Create a 5-page deliverable prototype

I chose this website because I thought I could improve the navigation organization and introduce a more contemporary visual identity.

Competitive Research

Authentic
Dated visual design
Online ordering available

Focus on high caliber chef
Modern, artistic visuals
No online ordering

Upscale Vibe
Table booking call to action
Online ordering available

Jumpy navigation
No online ordering

Insights

I researched other Izakaya style restaurants in Los Angeles. Competitors play up the authenticity or the caliber of the food. Harajuku Taproom should stand out by better visually reflecting their modern Japanese inspiration as well as calling attention to their unique beer offerings.

Target Audience

Happy Hour Crowd
Families
Food Connoisseurs

Because of the beer selection and small plate menu offerings, the happy hour crowd is the primary target audience. The moderate pricing and casual atmosphere is also a selling point for families. Lastly, the Japanese fare makes it appealing to food connoisseurs, especially with its trendy Culver City location.

Proposed Sitemap

Keeping the navigation on the same level and eliminating duplicated information will make the user exerience more straightforward. Keeping a call to action for online orderng and reservations will make it easier for busy users to get what they need.

Proposed Style Tile

The red is a carryover from the current identity, but with a more contemporary feel. The logo is modernized and the wave header theme is inspired by the Japanese murals painted on the side of the restaurant exterior.

Wireframes to Comps

The layout evolved quite a bit fromt the orignal wirefreamse. Using the existing beer labels had an interesting look, but still felt too cluttered for the more contemporary identity. I moved to minimize their presence and use icons to indicate styles of beer.

Mobile View

Desktop View

The desktop site is a one page scrolling site. It features a simple, informative section dedicated to explaining izakaya style food and craft beer to new patrons.

Prototype

Visit Site

Reflections

The final prototype for Harajuku Taphouse is contemporary and easy to navigate. It was a challenge to create the prototype without use of any responsive framework, but it forced me to think about how to translate my visual concepts into a working structural form. Sometimes I had to compromise my goals with what works with what was best for the project needs. This was a great learning project which I believe had a successful outcome.

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