I think that’s a fair comment b/c the design, does indeed, suck (at least in certain parts).
Agree w/ @lectroid that age is absolutely a real consideration (not saying I like that, but…). When I heard someone mention several yrs ago that their resumé had to include social media #s, I knew that our civilization was done-for…
Being under 30 doesn’t make this thing any more readable or navigable on your phone. It lacks basic navigation tools, it’s not responsive, it wasn’t designed for an appropriate lowest-common-denominator screen resolution, you have to scroll back and forth constantly.
Oh good grief, looks like it’s built in WordPress.
Well, what can you expect, given that it’s work for hire for Doordash?
You’re prob right, but it would not shock me if DoorDash threw some real money at this, PR/Marketing budgets etc.
Lisa Ling’s the only name I recognize, so I doubt they spent as much as Airbnb does on the content for its magazine (or was spending, back when they were sending expensive printed copies to me).
Age is definitely a factor but I don’t believe that’s a design that appeals to the young. Instead it reminds me of designs that were common at the birth of the desktop publishing revolution when any yahoo with a Mac would try their hand, Everything comes out looking like a party flyer.
again, this is a dominant trend in modern graphic design. might not be to your taste, but it’s absolutely everywhere and all over the commercial mainstream.
Speaking only of the page layout, sure, it’s familiar, though to me more dated (Mondo 2000, WIRED) than trendy.
The UX of the site, however, is shit.
EXACTLY this…
I have tears from laughing too hard. Like, why are these scallions jiggling?
You all may have missed that you can spin the book really fast.
On the positive side, I feel like the magazine itself at the bottom is artistic and well done. I would subscribe to a print version of that.
all of this talk about web design reminds of the THE GREATEST RESTAURANT WEBSITE EVER
make sure to play the mp3
Ow. That one made my eyes hurt.
Thanks, I had forgotten!
This guy’s home page is currently offline, maybe because it went viral last month.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220812205631/http://www.vegasrxrealty.com/
“Now with working email.”
Go get 'em, you radical pioneers, you!
The style feels like an intention references to the aesthetics of zines (Lucky Peach did some of this too). At this point retro, but also a reflection of limited design tools and inexperience from new creators. It’s a little bit much, but in line with the intent of the content which I’ve been enjoying. I think it’s kinda cool that Doordash is funding something like this, I don’t think all these places are on Doordash either. Sure this is some lowkey marketing for them, but this is great for the restaurants featured and the places they chose are pretty good. It comes off as weird to be sending signals that you’re this trendy small boutique magazine, but actually you’re paid for by a giant tech startup. I also think it’s likely that there’s just some really passionate people inside the org that managed to pry free some marketing dollars for this project.
If they’re not going to print the magazine, they should have just made a more conventional digital site. Reading magazine formatted layouts on a screen is so clunky and their off-the-shelf reader interface isn’t helping.
I’m skeptical that you could find something that awful on a shelf.
Ehhhh the reader interface works and has the essential features you need. It’s just not great when you put a 100+ page magazine in it. If anything it’s mediocre or average… or MVP (minimum viable product). There’s a ton of mediocre design out there. Source: am a UX designer that regularly creates mediocre or even bad designs on my way to a coming up with a good one. If you stop ideation too soon, you get less good stuff. Or if you’re not experienced in the space you’ll get less good design. Certainly you can put that on a shelf and people will pay for it, especially if it comes as part of a commodity wordpress theme. People pay for mediocre design all the time. It checks the boxes and does the job even if it doesn’t feel great!
Just like food it’s really hard to make good designs/experiences/etc. If it was easy everyone would do it and there’d be no point to having this forum. The vast majority of food purchases are probably things that aren’t that “good”, but they sustain you and don’t break the bank.
Example: I could see myself using that reader interface if I was making a product page which had all the relevant information, but I also wanted to include the 2-4 page print brochure for people who were curious about it. It doesn’t need to be a super great experience that I have to spend a ton of time designing, I already did that for the product page that has all the same information. It would just be a low cost/scope way to include another asset that we already have which a small set of users would find interesting.
I like reading these chefs’ stories.
All they needed was an off-the-shelf “digital flipbook” like this one:
If there were a print version or a PDF download it wouldn’t be as huge a piece of shit, but there is only the web page-flipper.
Judging from the underlying HTML, the tool they used has a PDF option, they just didn’t use it.