destination organic

Destination Organic
This is the website for an organic produce shop in Queenstown, New Zealand. The home page has one primary navigation system. The groups make logical sense for an organic produce store: home, about us, products, links, location, contact us, and refer a friend. The hierarchy of navigation is clear since the primary nav stays on the top bar for every page. A second navigation appears for the products link. The location along the left side and table of colored backgrounds clearly distinguishes it as navigation. This secondary navigation is organized as a collapsible menu for a third navigation system. I think this is a very elegant and concise way to show the third nav level while still keeping the contents of the second navigation still available.

Product page: collapsable third navigation

The home page also has three shortcut links in the body content of the page. The shortcuts are used to expedite the user to the sites most used sections which are the location of the store, their special vege and fruit boxes, and the products page.

Home page

Once you click on a primary navigation link it changes to its selected state which is underlined and subtly changed color from beige to white. For the products secondary and third navigation, it changes font color and background color to designate its selected state. The apparent selected states along with the large heading on every page keep the user well aware of where they are in the site. The home link on the primary navigation makes so the user can always revert back to the home page.
The site does not have a deep architecture. There are many pages but only the products page goes past the second level. Except for the products page, the architecture is somewhat flat since the primary navigation is on every page and can take you to all the other pages of the site. I think this is a good thing because the labels make sense yet it is simple to navigate throughout the site.
The extremely large sans serif heading on every page definitely makes the hierarchy of typography apparent. However the rest of the headings and body text all have a beige color which makes the hierarchy a little fuzzy and hard to read. The only technique used to distinguish them is the size and weight of the fonts. I would suggest changing the colors of the different headings and body text to make the hierarchy clearer and easier for the user to read.

about page

The structure/grid is very consistent from page to page. The top bar stays the exact same except for a different image in the banner, which keeps the top bar lively and fresh, just like their products. For me the focal point of every page is the bright red bar of the primary navigation. The position on the screen along with the brightness of the red immediately grabs my attention. I think it’s a good because the red definitely expresses the sense of a fresh tomato or apple which is perfect for an organic produce store.
The different photos in the banner definitely add to the design of the site. They are beautiful images of nature and produce that keep the site new and fresh. The background image for the body content of each page is a brown fence which I think is very appropriate for this site. It is a good none distracting subtle background which still applies the site’s content. On the products page, along with the secondary navigation there are images associated with each secondary nav link. The images are also bright beautiful images that compliment each product category. I think the site uses a good amount of images and photos to keep it lively and colorful.

products page

There is a green leaf icon used sparingly throughout the site to signal links or lists, whose function is clear to the user. The main color palette is brown, bright red, bright green, and beige. Like I mentioned before, the bright red and brown are used to separate the primary navigation and body content. Also the colors are used to separate the secondary navigation in the products page. The color palette contains earthy tones and bright red and green to convey freshness and ripeness. The palette reflects nature and is very appropriate for an organic produce store.
The objective of the site is to sell organic produce either through their online store or directing the user to their local store as well as emphasize the importance of fresh organic produces for your health. There is a search option which allows you to search their product line. The search option searches for keywords in the product name or description.

search page

I found the shortcuts feature a very useful feature on the homepage. It directs the user to the sites most popular sections and is geared toward the purpose of selling organic produce through their online store or their actual store. The site is very straightforward and clear. I found no confusing elements of the site. If I could improve it would be to add different colors to the different levels of typography in order to make it more readable and more structured. Other than that I think it’s a nice website that serves its purpose well and makes me want a fresh crisp organic apple right now.