This is the Frankie & Benny's current homepage online, the initial connotation that came to mind was the colour scheme reminded me of christmas, it feels very festive due to the green colours used alongside the red. This seems to not fit in with the season with it being January and Christmas being the furthest holiday away, I don't think they are giving off the right impression with this colour scheme as it doesn't particularly remind me of Italy when there is so little white used. The three grid column used allows the images and text to be set out in a clear structure and guides the audiences eyes from top to bottom of the page. The logo stands out well on this page and is a high contrast to the vibrant red background. The typefaces used are mainly sans serif with only very few serif typefaces used, this maximises simplicity.
The main thing I like about the layout of this app is the way the audience is able to scroll across along the bottom to see more options, this maximises use of space and is convenient and easy to look at. It also allows the top two thirds of the image to show just an overview of the film and an image making the page look easy to navigate around as there is little clutter and confusion. Only the necessary information is used to save time and white text against a black background I believe is more appealing to read. I think that black body text on a white background has connotations of textbooks, instructions and other mundane items which we have to read daily so it is a good idea to change this to something more unique and interesting. If I were designing this app I think I would have made the title of the film into a larger typeface and placed it either in one of the top corners for obvious reasons that this would be where the audience would look for the title or layer it over the image. I think where it is positioned now it doesn't really stand out as a title but just seen as a subheading. I think the deep red background colour works well but the scroll button seems to be almost camouflaged into the background as the same colour is used with only a small highlight. I think either it needs to be highlighted more or have a complete colour change.
Epicurious
The concept of this app is brilliant, I downloaded the app out of curiosity onto my phone and was extremely disappointed, I get the impression it was designed for the iPad and then transferred to iPhone without any adjustments. On the iPad it is clearly laid out in a grid that I assume is three columns and four rows, this makes it a simple layout that makes it easy to navigate around the app. To the left allows you to select a variety of options, I think it is useful that the button changes a different colour in relation to what page you are on to clarify this and stay clear of any confusion. The iPhone app isn't organised enough I personally think, the lists are long and you scroll continuously through heaps of categories that I believe could be condensed down into maybe twenty larger categories to make browsing easier. The background on the iPad app I feel could be a bit more lively, the bar across the top with strawberries in could be extended right the way to the bottom or maybe just a simple block colour instead of the grey, it looks a bit dull.
Gojee
Gojee is an app that gives the viewer a chance to type in what sort of food or drink they would like and view a list of recipes to make your own or a list of recommended local places. The concept of the app is really good and could prove useful to everyone, a wide target audience is good if you can design something that applies to all. In this case this app feel as though it works much better as an iPhone app rather than an iPad app, on an iPhone the information is listed portrait with small images and key information in a small space. However on an iPad I feel that the information is swallowed up by the size of the screen, it is a large app and the images are unnecessarily huge on each page and it feels as though the designer was trying to fill empty space. I think the body text should be made bigger, it is still legible at the size currently used but doesn't draw the attention of the audience and they tend to skip over it. I found the 'favourites' section (the lower image) fairly vague, the images had no title or name so which dish it was could be unclear, a small subheading in each box would allow the audience to view these meals much easier.
Carmel Cafe and Wine Bar
This cafe and wine bar in Florida already uses iPads to order food and drink and they have obviously considered the setup thoroughly. Split into two columns the page is easy to look at and decipher how to work it to order your food, the tabs at the top show clear headings and give indication of which page you are on. The images are small but big enough to be able to easily see the dish on offer and the title and price are both visible showing the key pieces of information the customer wants to know when ordering food. The 'add' button is in a colour that stands out to make it's purpose obvious and there is an option to zoom in on the food to take a closer look. I think that to improve this menu visually it requires a few changes, the layout is perfectly simple just a little boring to look at, the white background looks a bit clinical, I think it would look nice with a pale neutral or pastel colour applied. it could also be useful to maybe add nutritional information of each dish either below it or have an option to click and see them.
isushi is an app that is clearly set out but just looks very dated and unimaginative, the concept and screens are set out in a distinctive way with the tab icons at the bottom but the colour scheme and icons used feel old and although not much consideration has gone into them. I like the black background, that does feel slightly classy and modern but it is then juxtaposed by simplistic 2D looking icons. I like the use of a simple sans serif font used on content screens but the header serif font look as though it has been warped in an attempt to fit to the screen size. The red text is overwhelmed by the black and 'pacific rim cuisine' lacks luminance and is unnoticeable initially.
The format that this layout allows is one I think is a growing popular way to navigate through an app, the JQuery accordion slider allows the viewer to flick through slides in a more sophisticated and clever set up. I think that it should be applied to the majority of the screen not just in the centre and the titles of each page would be visible on each of the tabs.
Into my research of grids I came across these four which seem to be four main dominating grids used over a variety of media. I am unsure as to whether these are regularly applied to app design but I think they would still be successful digitally. The one thing I noticed across all of them was the simplicity, I believed that grid systems were complex and difficult but these proved me wrong, with minimal columns and rows they are simple to placing images and text. I personally like the Fonmon grid best, I like the idea of the central column being the most dominant and then the two either side providing useful information relative to the central content.
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