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Rent a Chef

Current rating: 5.9 (484 votes)

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  • Added: 11 September 2005
  • Submitter: Gnolen

Review:

I immediately liked the look and feel of this site and the more I used it, the more I appreciated the site’s style. The site combines a fresh, clean sort of Web 2.0 look set on a Victorian backdrop. I found it interesting and engaging. Yes, this sort of aesthetic has been done on plenty of sites. However, unlike the many weblogs that attempt this sort of look, it actually works for this site because of the subject matter. Modern cuisine meets Old World styling is quite an easy concept to swallow, …so to speak.

The design elements are sure and direct, with the tablecloth-like background pattern and the Victorian mealtime graphics. This, contrasted with the clear photography, makes for an easy to appreciate and digest visual offering (yes, another eating pun).

The code is pretty clean and semantic, and validates. In fact, every page on the site validates, with not so much as a warning. I appreciate the nice uses of JavaScript for and for the fancy tool tips on the navigation. The site works fine with JavaScript disabled, but I guess the heading text images were really necessary to the designers. I’m not so sure, but what the heck.

The only beef I have with the layout is the fact that the page content begins pretty far down the page. This is no real bar against usability, as everybody knows to scroll, but the pages just won’t look as good at low-resolution settings. But this is quite a nice layout and design. It certainly makes me interested in the restaurant/service (can’t really tell which, as I don’t speak Swedish). Anyway, cool looking site that is built well and functions well.

Reviewed by Andy Rutledge

There are 17 guest comments so far.

commentat 14:48 on 11 September 2005, Thame wrote:

Gorgeous. It has a very elegant feel with the ornate background and the vines in the corners.

I wonder who the designer was...

commentat 15:18 on 11 September 2005, David wrote:

This site was very nice, it really suited the company. Rent a Chef also seems to know how to cook, the menu looks very tastefull.

Thame, nitromedia.se created this site, don't know much about them, and there site dosen't tell much either, but it says that a new site for nitromedia is on its way.

By the info on nitromedia it seems like it's a very small company, might even be a one-man company.

However they seems to know what they are doing.

commentat 22:41 on 11 September 2005, Alex wrote:

Something about the design just feels right. Nice, elegant, hand-drawn in parts, with very good photography.

And Andy is right - the design totally suits the subject matter.

Code looks tight too - well done guys!

commentat 01:49 on 12 September 2005, Matt wrote:

Looks really nice. Suits the content really well. Only gripes are that the navigation doesn't highlight which page you are on, and the logo doesn't link back to the home page. Nothing major but kind of frustrating anyway.

commentat 05:28 on 12 September 2005, Miss Kitty wrote:

Maybe it's just a coinkidink, but that logo looks a bit like ok47's.

www.ok47.com

I'm just sayin'

commentat 08:03 on 12 September 2005, codesign wrote:

Beautiful pipctures, good design, but not enough variation : browsing the site is quit anoying, except for the random picture. The top menu should have a "you are here" and the main text area looks always the same. I think the main area colors should be studied to enhance this area.

But, it's a good design :-)

commentat 08:37 on 12 September 2005, Chris Olsz wrote:

Hello Kitty! 'Coinkidink' is a very nice way of putting things. It totally jumped at me, no question, right when I saw the gallery post. I'll say it... It's overt! I suspect a Psychocowboy connection as I recall from a few years back at the Edge. (Ah... the good ol' Sands!) Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Anyway... OVERT!

commentat 12:42 on 12 September 2005, Andy wrote:

As a proponent of excellent branding, and logo theft issues aside, I have to say that I do not understand their logo here. Before I wrote the review I pondered the logo for a while, trying to discern some link between the symbol and the thrust of the business. To no avail. I decided to write only about the site's quality. But so far as I can tell this is not the best logomark for such a business. Then again, maybe there is some significance lost on me as I'm American and the business is located in Sweden.

commentat 13:54 on 12 September 2005, Martin wrote:

First of all - thanks for all the nice comments! It is really nice to see all the traffic from this great site - amazing! I have to agree with some that the content part could have been a bit worked on and more changes throughout the site, but sometimes that also is distracting for some.

About the branding - when I designed the logo a couple of years ago the company was a young cool company that wanted to stand out a bit from the Dutch (where it started) 'old restaurant' style. And therefore I was thinking of the 'excellent' sign that we do here in Sweden (and other places) when food is great, and try to use it in a modern way with a modern font. And no, I haven't seen this other brand before. Pretty cool to see though! I said to my clients that they have to use them as company clothes from now on.

The brand has worked very well to stand out, especially when the owner is driving(racing) around with a branded red mini-cooper.

Once again - thanks both for the comments and t

commentat 05:20 on 13 September 2005, Chris Olsz wrote:

Hi Martin, sorry if I was a bit harsh. I realize that it's very hard to come up with a logo that's completely authentic but if it hadn't been for its precedent, I would have to disgree with Andy when it comes to branding.

The logo is charming and evokes the gesture of a chef expressing satisfaction or a wine steward making a recommendation, proclaiming: "It is exquisite!" (see the hands?) As in the case of the OK47 logo, it's a abstraction of the 'okay' gesture but with the added subtlety of an O and a K formed by the fingers (your logo is missing the pinky).

For me, the logo is definitely appropriate to the business, and the similarity with OK47 was all the more 'overt' (as I put it) because they had a similar 'meaning' rather than just a coincidental graphic quality (not to mention color).

In any case, the website is nice.

commentat 11:09 on 13 September 2005, Gunnar wrote:

Thank you for all the nice comments on the site, which we are very happy to have. We have been running the business for only a year in Sweden with a tremendous development and expansion. We get many comments about the new thinking and "fresh" design in comparison with all those "old fart" catering companies. The combination design and the company car we have, a mini cooper, has been our best and most cheap marketing tool and almost the half of our customers has recognized the car and at a later moment been using our services.

Martin and Nitromedia have helped us with a great jumpstart and it is proven that design and correct marketing is very important in the food & beverage business.

Thank you again Martin for the great site!

Gunnar, owner of Rent a Chef Sweden AB

commentat 11:59 on 13 September 2005, David wrote:

I saw that car on Hornsgatan...

commentat 06:56 on 22 September 2005, Britt wrote:

To those who complain about the logo not linked back to home page... If you could read swedish ( I can't ) you'd notice that the first "tab" of the navigation takes you home. The tab's text is "Startsidan" which to me probably says "Start" or "Home Page" ;).

Regarding the "Your here" tabs too, I think they would be a nice touch and should only take a few lines of css to actually implement them on the site. But I dont feel this touch is necessary. Its a small site, the user should have a fairly good idea of what page they are allready on.

I do love the flyout left sub-navigation. And the style is beautiful = 10 rating. Reminds me of Monc-style :). You swede's have a wonderful sense of design. sheesh!

commentat 15:09 on 26 September 2005, Kemie wrote:

Great site. Congratulations, you guys, it really did make an impression! :)

commentat 05:10 on 20 November 2005, Maxime wrote:

Very nice site in fact. The design is nice. The navigation is very easy. I've got only positive impressions.

commentat 21:28 on 30 December 2005, Lady Catherine wrote:

This is a beautiful site. Simple, yet elegant. I liked the navigation.

commentat 05:28 on 24 January 2006, David wrote:

I credit this site, what I mostly loved, that the site doesn't include table tags, complete css3 design, which is difficult to produce nice layout based on css


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