Tortilleria Nixtamal (Case Study)

Tortilleria Nixtamal

Web Design
(Case Study)

Project: Tortilleria Nixtamal Website Design
Client: Tortilleria Nixtamal LLC
Industry : Food and Beverages

Role: Web Designer

Goal

Increase number of wholesale inquiries, catering orders and restaurant visitors.

Overview

Tortillería Nixtamal opened in 2008 to provide New York City restaurants and residents with freshly made corn masa and tortillas. Prior to Tortilleria Nixtamal’s opening, finding fresh masa and tortillas in the city was not possible; its opening was widely celebrated.

Tortilleria Nixtamal strives to provide fresh, high-quality, organic, non-GMO masa and tortillas to its customer base. Tortilleria Nixtamal’s relentless focus on quality and process sets it apart from other tortillerías that have recently opened in New York City. However, the design of Tortilleria Nixtamal’s old website did not adequately meet its identity.

Approach

Usability Evaluation

I conducted an evaluation of the website and identified several areas for improvements:

The navigation was not intuitive, making important information difficult to find or wasn’t present at all. For example location, restaurant menu and retail outlets.
The website did not give a clear overview of all the business services offered by Tortilleria Nixtamal:
Wholesale tortillas, retail tortillas, restaurant, catering, party hall and deliveries.
The overall information on the website was not organized according to business priorities: Increase number of wholesale inquiries, catering order and restaurant visitors.
The site was not responsive for view on mobile devices.
Images were small, of poor quality and almost absent.

Gathering Insights from Customer Research

I interviewed Tortilleria Nixtamal’s owners and customers to understand the problems that they were facing when visiting the site. I was able to identify the following problems:

The website did not highlight Tortilleria Nixtamal as a supplier of tortillas.
Customers interested in wholesale tortillas and masa could not submit inquiries.
Existing wholesale customers weren’t able to find a link to their account.
Customers interested in catering could not submit orders.
Customers couldn’t find the restaurant’s location.
The restaurant menu was buried three levels deep, making it difficult to find.
Diners couldn’t book a table.

Sketches

Following the meetings with owners and customers, I began to draft sketches in order to organize the site’s information to facilitate navigation and prioritize information to make the navigation more business-focused, intuitive and user friendly.

Design Solutions

My proposed design solutions are below. On these, I gave priority to both, website’s users and the client’s business needs.

Problem 1

The navigation was not intuitive, making important information difficult to find or wasn’t present at all. For example location, restaurant menu and retail outlets.

Solution

The navigation is consistent across pages and accessible from mobile devices. All navigational items are visible at a glance.

Problem 2

a)The website did not highlight Tortilleria Nixtamal as a supplier of tortillas, and
b) it did not give a clear overview of all the business services offered by Tortilleria Nixtamal: Wholesale tortillas, retail tortillas, restaurant, catering, party hall and deliveries.

Solution

The new website includes a tagline at the top of the landing page, which clearly positions Tortilleria Nixtamal as a premium maker and supplier of 100% Natural Fresh Corn Tortillas in the New York Tristate area. A hero image showing tortillas in production, further reinforces that making tortillas is Tortilleria Nixtamal’s main line of business. A secondary navigation listing Wholesale, Catering, Party Hall, the other three lines of business that Tortilleria Nixtamal sought to emphasize.

Problem 3

The overall information on the website was not organized according to business priorities: Increase number of wholesale inquiries, catering order and restaurant visitors.

Solution

Wholesale, catering and location feature prominently on the main navigation, and are again emphasized through secondary navigations on the main page.

Problem 4

The site was not responsive for view on mobile devices.

Solution

The new website design is fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices.

Problem 5

Images were small, of poor quality and almost absent.

Solution

All images are of a good size and good quality. Disclaimer: Sometimes I wear the photographer’s hat on some projects.

Problem 6

Customers interested in wholesale tortillas and masa could not submit inquiries. Existing wholesale customers weren’t able to find a link to their account.

Solution

Access to the Wholesale form is now very easy to find from the main navigation, secondary navigation and from the footer navigation. The form is outsourced to a third-party service where the client has access to all data collected in the form. Client and costumers get email notifications efficiently in their email inboxes. Existing customers can easily login into their accounts and place orders from Nixtamal third party ordering system.

Problem 7

Customers interested in catering could not submit orders.

Solution

Customers interested in Tortilleria Nixtamal’s catering services can easily now place orders through a catering order form. The Catering form can easily being accessed from the main navigation, secondary navigation and from the footer navigation. The form is outsourced to a third-party service where the client has access to all data collected in the form. Client and costumers get email notifications efficiently in their email inboxes.

Problem 8

Customers couldn’t find the restaurant’s location.

Problem 9

The restaurant menu was buried three levels deep, making it difficult to find.

Problem 10

Diners couldn’t book a table.

Solution

I solved these issues placing four prominent call to action buttons at the top of the home page and below the main tagline, in such way that visitors on-the-go can access location and directions quickly, book a table through OpenTable services easily, access the restaurant menu for a quick overview of dishes and order delivery, all from the convenience of their mobile devices.

Results

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