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Melissa Garlington
Melissa Garlington
ROLE: Branding, Information Architecture, UX & UI, Web Design
Pataks is an Indian brand that makes curry, pastes and sauces for the British market. It was founded by Lakshmishankar Pathak back in 1957 and it started as a small family business. In 2015 our agency was approached to develop a new website that could target modern British families that were interested in learning how to cook a traditional Indian dish but had limited time and experience.
1. ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUS WEBSITE
When looking at the previous Patak's website it was very clear that the brand looked outdated and it wasn't really attracting their key target audience.
The key issues identified were the following:
• First and foremost their website wasn't responsive. On a recent research carried out McGarrybowen and Kraft Foods, it showed that 59% of 25 to 34 year olds would cook a recipe while looking at their smartphone or tablet device. Therefore, having a responsive website was essential for approaching their target audience and to increase their visibility with Search Engines.
• Second, it was unclear as to what the main goal of the website was. Their previous site showed a few pages with recipes and a separate page with their products but there was no link on how to cook these recipes with Pataks' main products.
• A third issue had to do with their lack of presence in Social Media channels particularly inside Instagram (which is so successful with food photography). This was a great opportunity to take their family product and link it back to its Indian heritage with all its colour and rich flavours.
• Finally, the overall branding was clearly outdated. We understood the limitations of changing it completely which is not what the company needed, nevertheless we could still incorporate key elements from their current packaging into the website so the overall brand could feel cohesive.
2. CONCEPTING & EXPLORATION OF BRANDING
After analysing each one of their labels and how their products were classified, I understood that the diamond shape was a strong visual element that helped the brand to remain consistent. The diamond shape was carried out throughout the titles, dividers and decorative elements of the new website.
A second element that needed to be taken into account was the brand's overall colour palette. We kept the packaging's primary colours and brought them across the landing page. When it came to inner pages, I wanted to make sure that the recipes themselves were legible and clean. Therefore colours were kept more recessive.
Finally, the third element and probably the most important one of all, was to make use of excellent food photography. We were aiming to be stylish, beautifully aesthetic but yet feasible if people were interested in making the recipe by themselves.
3. EXPLORATION OF UX ELEMENTS
At first, it was essential to understand what the primary objective of the site was. After a few interviews with the client we came to the conclusion that the website was merely a platform to showcase their products and how to use them effectively with Indian cuisine. They weren't necessarily concerned with selling their products online as an eCommerce platform but they were more concerned in engaging their end consumers on Social Media.
At first, my main focus was to link their product to the most well known Indian recipes., so when clicking on any of these, people would understand straight away which Pataks products to buy.
Additionally research showed us that users wanted additional information such as what the spice level was, the level of difficulty and the amount of time required for making the meal.
Other main features included were the following:
• Adding smart filters that would narrow down the search intuitively.
• Including an open search bar that would allow users to be more specific.
• Enabling optimised printable .PDFs for each recipe.
• Making a clear differentiation between the ingredients and the method.
• Continuing the user journey by suggesting alternative recipes.
CONCLUSION
The aim of this project was to give Pataks a strong digital presence not only with their website but also connecting with their audience at a heart level through their Social Media strategy. We were truly satisfied with the brand's new positioning and vision for the future.