The client
Reese Specialty Foods epitomizes culinary excellence, offering a tantalizing array of globally inspired gourmet products that elevate everyday meals into extraordinary experiences. Renowned for sourcing the finest ingredients and flavors from around the world, Reese specializes in an extensive range of premium food items, including olives, capers, artichokes, specialty sauces, and much more. With a commitment to quality and authenticity, Reese infuses every product with a touch of sophistication, enabling food enthusiasts to explore diverse cuisines and create exquisite dishes in the comfort of their homes. Embracing a passion for culinary innovation, Reese Specialty Foods stands as a trusted name synonymous with exceptional taste, elevating the art of cooking for epicureans and home chefs alike.
Challenges
Facing the task of redesigning Reese's website, many challenges seemed to lie in the way. First was the look of the old website that needed an update towards a more contemporary, colorful style, that was now trending within the food and beverage market. Second was the enormous task of reorganizing Reese's huge product line more efficiently, so single products were easier to find. The recipe needed to showcase crucial information more directly and the tips section needed to be simplified and emphasized in its significance.
Color hierarchy and organization
To have a connection with the overall look of the products, I took over the main color ranges, red, gold, sand, and black. There was an initial idea to color the backgrounds for the products in different colors, but it was dropped since it looked too busy. Hard shadows were integrated to follow the overall trend and give the product mockups a modern look.
While the same typeface was used for all copy, fonts, and the main colors were used to create a hierarchy: Gold for the headlines, red for subheaders, and black or white for the paragraphs. In contrast sand and black acted as background colors to create a sharp contrast to the copy and make it more readable. Rounded shapes were used for CTA buttons, product windows, backgrounds, and text markings to emphasize and create a soft, easy-for-the-eye look.
Navigation panel
The new navigation panel with the logo centralized should create a quick, easy overview of the website's contents. The high contrast of black panels and gold font were visually appealing and created a touch of premium since these colors are associated with high-end products. Throughout the website, it is the range that establishes the connection between design, information, and brand. The reappearing tones, though sometimes changing, still provide enough consistency to create an overall look of unity and warmth.
The importance of reviews and recipes
A special remark should be made to the inclusion of customer reviews to establish trust between the brand and the consumer. Images of the reviewers were added beneath the quotes to give them an identity. Arrows allow for an easy scroll-trough experience.
Throughout the whole website, I added recipe imagery to make it more fresh-looking and visually appealing. In addition to that I created a special section for Reese's core values, "Taste, Quality, Creativity" to highlight those - adding some humor with illustrations for each value.
"Where to buy"-section
Since Reese requested to adopt a Where to Buy section, it was included as well leading to a world finder foods page for the stores or an external provider for home delivery services, such as Amazon or Target. This way the customer has a quick option to buy the desired products at once, saving time and money.
Back from the old page, I included the tips section, but with a more colorful update through imagery.
Teamwork
The concept of the website was divided among me and my colleagues at QNY, so different proposals could be made for the homepage, about section, recipe section, and product section. While everyone had to present a design for the homepage the additional pages were optional. I chose to design the product page and detail page, while other colleagues took over the About page and recipe page.
Further development
After sending our proposals the client decided mostly on my concept for the product section and homepage. Some changes, that were later developed by the team, included neutral backgrounds for the product section, different banners with copy, and a sub-navigation consisting of buttons. In the end, I would have left out the "tip"-page since I believe it was originally designed to educate the customer but is nowadays outdated since most of the middle-class target group would be familiar with the products. I would leave out the "news" page as well, since unless it is not updated once a week or month all its information might be included in the social media, together with recipes and events.
