A cooler Cool Basil
2020 has been a difficult year for restaurants. Many have had to add online ordering, pickup, and delivery options. Many who haven't offered at least one of these services were romantic in their ways and purposely chose not to adapt. But, this year they had to.
Cool Basil in Clive, Iowa was no different.
As I wanted to order some food, I was quickly in shock by their website that from the 90s (not mobile friendly) and a logo that was fuzzy with too much going on. So, I set out to clean things up.
First up, the logo.
As you'll see below the current logo has two different fonts and an icon that's a "C" for Cool and "B" for Basil being combined with a noodle hanging.
I simplified things, naturally, so "Cool Basil" and "Thai Cuisine & Sushi Bar" are all the same font of Rumba. This font was chosen simply because of how the "C" and "b" flowed together to form a cleaner icon.
And rather than having a noodle... I mean, a noodle makes sense for the food they serve, the noodle adds an unneeded element to the icon/logo. Instead, I decided to create an uppercase "B" through a nice, little flowing line to form a basil leaf.
A basil leaf just made more sense. All together, the logo feels more put together while also being a whole lot simpler. My favorite part was definitely discovering that I could take the Rumba font and design a basil leaf for the "B".
Alright, onto the website.
The year is 2020 and so many local businesses still have a website that hasn't been updated since 1999. Okay, maybe 2005 is more realistic but still. Do I believe every local business should have a website? Yes. It's the one place on the internet you can own and fully control, unlike social networks. But, here's the thing. If a business doesn't want to stay relevant or feels they don't need a website, please don't renew your domain and forfeit your website.
Okay little rant done.
But, I just had to redesign their current, outdated website. I didn't spend too much time on my design as I wanted to show how easily it could be updated. I mean the menus are PDFs and they could easily be more interactive on their website. Like imagine, you go to the menu and find the item you want to order and order it all without leaving the menu.
I'd love to design and develop this for them. In addition, this is my proposed homepage for Cool Basil.
I wanted the photography to better represent their food. It may just be me, but when I see a poor photo of food that I thought about ordering I cringe a bit and experience anxiety. "Will this food actually be good?" "It looks just okay."
Their old website lacked consistency or cohesiveness. My proposed website includes only two fonts, only 5 colors (including black and white), and an actual mobile-friendly option for anyone ordering from their smartphone. Crazy concept, right?
Upon seeing the overall feel of Cool Basil I felt it could use an update with branding and a website to better resemble this new branding.
The problem with the old, current branding is how much is going on that makes it feel messy. All together with their old website their current branding resembles who they are when they first started. This worked and continues to work as they are still in business.
I feel these updates though would give them more credibility to be THE place for Thai food in the area, rather than just a local favorite.