IKEA traditional flavors 2
A microsite design for an IKEA event in collaboration with local food producers
In an effort to support local greek food producers, IKEA Greece organised a number of special events at some of its stores. Small farmers’ markets were set up and famous greek chefs where invited to give free cooking lessons to the attendees, using fresh ingredients from the producers’ stands. In order to highlight these events, we proposed the creation of a website. Apart from the events' information and images, we also included a recipe contest and an application form to enter a draw to cook with the chefs.
Going into this project, we knew we had a limited budget and a tight deadline. We needed to deliver a website which would reach a large audience in time and should also combine three different things:
- Inform the visitors about the event with the local greek food producers.
- Invite them to participate in the cooking lessons with famous Greek chefs.
- Encourage them to add their favourite recipes to win some IKEA kitchenware.
Keeping our objectives in mind, we deliberated the structure that would best help us reach them. As a result, we came up with the flowchart below.
We wanted to merge the neat IKEA aesthetics with the crusty/homemade style of this traditional event. We researched Greek traditional food and recipes and explored other website designs: How did they use neat typography with recipes and food? One interesting example was the website of Epicurious which combined the presented recipes with an overall clean typography and delightful design.
The first important thing, before the design/visual approach, was to have a clear navigation strategy so the user would easily understand what is going on:
- Homepage
- Producers
- Cook with Us
- Image Gallery
- Winners
We followed IKEA’s brand guidelines in combination with the event’s aesthetics, maintaining a neat design. We also had to keep the design consistent with the event’s printed and t.v versions. Below you can see these pages, from mid-fidelity wireframes(left) to high fidelity designs (right).
We worked on 3 basic size-points that are more common in mobiles, tablets, and desktops. Below you can see the design for desktop (1.440px), tablet (768px), and mobile (320px).
Almost 5.000 people attended and enjoyed the event and 100 had the chance to cook with the famous chefs. The local producers had the opportunity to advertise their products and get live feedback from the attendees. The visitors cooking with IKEA's products discovered that IKEA not only has well-designed furniture but quality cookware sets as well.
Sometimes, you have to work with what you have. Print and digital design are very different but at the end of the day, not only must we design good looking digital experiences but digital experiences that work. Having a user-centered design approach, we focus on clear structure which helps our humans/users complete tasks without getting lost, annoyed, and/or leaving the website.