A critical look at Yo Sushi's wacky new website
Yo Sushi (I refuse to use the exclamation mark) has released a new website, which is interesting to say the least.
While ecommerce sites have become more user friendly over the years, thanks to the simple fact that usable sites make more money, Restaurant websites in general have been a playground for the imaginations of designers.
It seems to me that many have been created without a passing thought for usability.
For example, Buddokan’s website (click on image to find out) has a completely pointless intro page which forces users to click on a tiny link to view the proper site.
In short, many restaurants have failed to think about what their users actually want and how they use the site and have just decided to go for a design which makes a statement.
This means that users who (mainly) just want to see locations, menus and perhaps make a booking have to work very hard to find such basic information.
The latest such design comes from Yo Sushi. Here it is.
(click image to visit site).
Now, I like the design a lot. I can see the impact the scrolling effect must have had at various meetings at Yo Sushi HQ, and the site does fit very well with the brand.
I also like the carousel effect on this food page:
However, when you look at how people actually use websites, then the cracks start to appear.
For example, try and find that food page using the scrolling homepage. It is possible, but it’s much more difficult than it needs to be.
Indeed, it’s much easier to click the hamburger menu option and navigate that way.
So, on a desktop it looks good, it’s fun, but it doesn’t actually work that well. Now let’s go back to the point about designing for how people use your site.
This brings us to mobile. Mobile is very important for restaurants and, in a world where mobile usage is on the rise, restaurant site design really needs to cater for mobile users.
Indeed, a JiWire study from 2014 found that mobile users were more than twice as likely to use mobile over desktop as a source of information on dining decisions.
However, this site isn’t great on mobile. It uses responsive design so the desktop and mobile design is just the same.
This is a perfectly acceptable approach on lots of sites but works less well when the desktop version has a design like this.
On mobile, the scrolling movement of down down the street is instead very jerky, and this was on wi-fi. On variable mobile internet connections it will infuriate some users.
As such, the ‘navigation by street sign’ technique is even more difficult.
Speed is an issue for mobile, more so since Google’s Mobile-Friendly update made it a ranking factor.
As shown by Google’s Page Speed tool, this site isn’t the fastest:
It just doesn’t work very well, and lacks some of the obvious features of a mobile site. For example, it doesn’t ask to use my location to find the nearest restaurant, which is pretty standard on most mobile sites.
Also, the map is fiddly to move while, when you click on a pin, you often only see half of the details:
Other obvious features are missing too.
Here, on the locator page for one of its restaurants, it has integrated maps but hasn’t added the option of directions. A small thing perhaps, but one which improves the user experience on mobile.
This is a classic case of style over substance. On first impressions, the homepage looks great, and the scrolling effect produces that wow factor.
However, on closer inspection, the site makes it harder for customers to find information on the food, or find one of its restaurants, which is surely the point of its site.
Indeed, it is these user needs which the site fails to consider, especially on mobile. For a comparison, look at this mobile homepage from Pizza Express, another chain restaurant.
There are four tasks which users can perform easily from this page. Ones which, I would guess, Pizza Express has identified through analytics and user testing.
Mobile users are often in a hurry, so the key tasks should be easy to carry out. Pizza Express (and others) get this, it seems Yo Sushi doesn’t.
All the flashy design counts for nothing if the the user experience is so poor.