La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Chicago
Links:
Awards:
- GDUSA American Graphic Design Award, 2012
- American Graphic Design Award (AGDA), 2012
- Davey Award (silver), 2012
Services Provided:
New content and event management tools allow the Chicago chapter of the world’s oldest and largest gastronomic organization to easily present their spectacular dining events in style.
It’s no secret that Chicago is packed with excellent places to eat and drink. The Chicago chapter of La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, one of the world’s oldest gastronomy organizations—and largest with 80,000 members worldwide—brings members together to showcase the city’s world-renouned cuisine and the organization’s lavish wine cellar.
Officers of the Chicago chapter asked Mightybytes to overhaul their existing website, which didn’t project the right image for their organization. Content was outdated, difficult for officers to update, and in general the site was confusing to navigate. La Chaîne needed a website that felt professional without feeling stuffy.
OUR APPROACH
The site’s primary goals are to support existing members while presenting the organization in a way that will appeal to potential members as well. We wanted the site to showcase La Chaîne’s beautiful food and event photography while also keeping focus on the written content, such as membership information, events, announcements, and so on. To this end, Mightybytes presented design concepts that utilize large, stylized typography for headings and titles while maintaining a somewhat monochromatic color scheme of black, white and gray with navy blue for hovers and highlights. The lack of color within interface elements allows La Chaîne’s rich photos to take center stage without detracting from the site’s message.
IMPLEMENTATION
We used ExpressionEngine for the site’s content management system, which allows officers to easily update event information and add photos. We also took advantage of Typekit’s extensive font library with typefaces that promote legibility and an air of non-stuffy sophistication.
La Chaîne’s website utilizes responsive design, making it resolution-independent and optimized for mobile phones, tablets, desktop monitors, and everything in between. To accommodate this, multiple sizes for Chaine’s photographs are created on-the-fly and cached on the server, so that smaller screen devices can benefit from speedier load times.
THE RETURN
Members and prospective members of La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs can now visit the Chicago chapter’s website for timely updates on upcoming events, photos, reviews of past events, and recommendations for local restaurants, hotels, and clubs. The new website makes all this information highly accessible across devices and platforms, allowing the organization to broaden its reach and better serve its members.