CLIENT PROJECT
Overview
Brasserie Mémère is an authentic French establishment in Closter, NJ, serving classic techniques and flavors reminiscent of grandma’s cooking within a Parisian atmosphere.
Our team visually redesigned their desktop and mobile websites to be more sleek and modern while also streamlining the navigation. Additionally, we provided high level branding recommendations to promote the business's long term success.
Role
Deliverables
Project Manager
Designer
Researcher
Hi-Fi Prototype
Mid-Fi Prototype
Competitive Analysis
Usability Testing Analysis
Branding Recommendations
Site Maps
Tools
Timeline
Figma / FigJam
Notion
Canva
3 months
THE SOLUTION
Classic French — Rediscovered
Brasserie Mémère is a classic French bistro located in Closter, NJ. Intended to evoke the warm feelings of a "mémère", or granny in French, Brasserie Mémère delights younger generations with timeless flavors and techniques. Guests can enjoy familiar French classics like steak frites and crème brûlée while in a laidback Parisian setting.
DESIGN OUTCOME
Whether on desktop or mobile, guests are captivated by appealing food visuals, and experience a hassle-free layout to easily accomplish their objectives. The redesign replicates the real life Brasserie Mémère hospitality for users online.
Key Features
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appetizing food images
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simplified main navigation
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more CTAs for popular tasks: making reservations, viewing menus, and submitting event inquiries
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Footers showcasing crucial info like business hours, location, and contact information
Be Our (Virtual) Guest
THE CHALLENGE
How might we...
excite potential guests viewing Brasserie Mémère’s website
through compelling images of menu items, a streamlined reservation process, and clearly communicated public and private event details?
THE PROCESS
How We Did It
Research
Competitive analysis
Screener surveys
Legacy usability testing
User interviews
Synthesis
Design
Test
DESKTOP SCREENS
Exploring the Desktop
We focused our designs on 3 main tasks. This helped us design within our scope and focus on designs that would attract new guests.
1. Explore the menus
2. View upcoming events
3. Book a private event
1. Explore the Menus
We added sub menu buttons so guests can quickly toggle between the numerous menus. This encourages discoverability for more unfamiliar menus (e.g. Prix Fixe, Specials, etc).
We revamped the upcoming events page to include the most important event details such as contact information and a menu link to increase guest scanability. Furthermore, we included ongoing events below to further entice guests by advertising more deals.
As an entirely new page, this page helps guests visualize the different spaces within the restaurant. Not only are there descriptions and capacity limits, the inquiry form makes it easy for guests to establish contact with the restaurant.
3. Book a Private Event
2. View Upcoming Events
MOBILE SCREENS
Mobile Translation
With almost 60% of our users saying they find restaurants via social media, it was crucial to create a responsive design to maintain the brand experience on mobile.
A hamburger menu replaces the navigation bar and the footer was removed. We implemented more mobile friendly designs aimed to account for vertical scrolling and hand dexterity as shown below.
Badges replace the sub menu to optimize the mobile experience. Each badge is a direct link to a PDF, rather than an embedded image for a better mobile viewing experience.
Event details are listed on modular event cards so users can get all the info they need in a quick snapshot.
A carousel showcases the private event spaces so the user can quickly browse the rooms without having to scroll down.
FINAL TAKEAWAYS
Brasserie Mémère's Future
More Visuals = More Appetite
With little understanding of French cuisine, users were reluctant to dine at a French restaurant. Brasserie Mémère’s team must continue to educate and showcase French cuisine by taking high quality images of their dishes.
Accessibility Is a Must
In today’s world, it is becoming increasingly unacceptable for websites to not comply with ADA standards. To remedy this, it will be important for Brasserie Mémère to get ahead of the game and subscribe to an accessibility provider.
Local Influences
From our interviews, most of our NJ guests said they learn of new restaurants by word of mouth or local forums. We suggest that Brasserie Mémère work with local influencers from the community to attract more guests within the neighborhood.
Lastly...
I had so much fun working on this project as it combined my love of food, and passion for helping local businesses. Thank you so much to my UX team for their hard work and to the amazing Brasserie Mémère owners, who collaborated with us and were open to our ideas. Please support them if you are in the neighborhood!