I was watching Ramsay’s Kichen Knightmares USA on Friday night and it got me thinking that as web designers we can learn so much from the kitchen maestro extraordinaire.
Photo: Channel 4
1. Simplicity
Gordon constantly tells the failing restaurants to simplify their menus. It’s easier for the kitchen to manage and less choice makes it easier for customers to make a decision.
Simplify your website and your information architecture. Make it more concise for the user.
2. Communication
Constant communication between your team and your customers is vital as is constant communication with your website users.
Always give feedback to let your website users know what has just happened or what they need to do.
3. Keep it fresh
For a restaurant to reek of quality it needs to bring in and produce fresh food everyday. A website doesn’t need to be fresh every day but you can’t let it go stale either otherwise users won’t return and content becomes outdated.
Introducing a blog or newsreel allows you to easily update a website daily, weekly or monthly with fresh content.
4. Test, test, test
The first thing Gordon does when he visits a new restaurant is test the food (which he’s never happy with of course). Testing is a vital stage of a web project. Basing your design decisions simply on what you think is not good enough. You’ve been involved in the project from the start so there are things you’ll overlook.
Test your websites on external users i.e. people who aren’t involved in the project at all. Get real users to test sites for you, not just your family and friends.
5. Feedback
Closely related to testing is asking for feedback. You’ll often see Gordon out in the local village asking people what they think of the restaurant and why they don’t go there for meals.
Ask your users and target market for feedback and how your websites can be changed for the better. Take the feedback as constructive criticism.
6. Influence your customers
Gordon often makes restaurants specialise in certain dishes for certain nights e.g. Tuesday nights are pie nights. This is a type of ‘call to action’ guiding your users in the direction you want them to go.
Always ask yourself what you want users to do next on each page and guide them in that direction with one clear call to action button.
7. Cleanliness
Get the gloves out and get the workspace cleaned. A clean kitchen is important for good restaurants as is your workspace and desktop for good web design. It must be clean and organised to for you to work effectively.
Stay clean with a tidy workspace and stay organised with your calendar and to-do list manager.
Final thought
Lastly be passionate about what you do. Gordon will always fit this in somewhere. If you’re not passionate about what you do then it’s not worth it.
There you go, Gordon’s guide to web design. I found another good article on Gordon on 37 Signals blog that’s worth checking out.
Do you watch Gordon Ramsay’s shows and have you learnt anything from him?
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The Odin says:
Nice, you can take a lot from this. Thanks!
Paul MAy says:
Kitchen Nightmares is effectively basic service design. I don’t actually think Gordon brings much to the party, other than the menu remix.
Liam says:
8. Swearing
Gordon asserts his authority through foul language.
It’s important to be keen.
vocal says:
ohhhh, you are so sensitive to everything, and I really got the key of this post: learn from life!
Elidet says:
I think this can be applied to all businesses all the way around.
Ramsey always brands the restaurant as well, and it’s a key element many small business owners neglect.
Paul says:
Nice idea to compare freelancing to Ramsey… as long as you don’t use all the four letter word Gordon is using with his clients :-)
Lee says:
@Liam: Yes, swearing at your team lol maybe not the best way to be a team leader
@Paul May & @Elidet: You’re right, Gordon’s approach could basically be applied to any business. What I don’t get is why these failing restaurants don’t try these approaches before he comes to visit
Elidet says:
@Lee:
As someone who works with small businesses, I can tell you they don’t try these approaches before he visits-
I call it business myopia: they are too busy running their business that they don’t run their business. It’s a vicious cycle.
A chef opens up a restaurant because he’s a chef and wants to share his skills with the world, but that doesn’t mean they know a thing about marketing and running a business.
Or a business owner opens up a restaurant, but doesn’t necessarily know a thing about cooking.
Also, as for feedback back: telling a business owner that their technique doesn’t work is taken as an insult, instead of constructive criticism.
There is also a reason why the Chef’s “mean” attitude works so well.
It’s like a mom telling her son “Bobby, put that down, please” vs yelling “Bobby, if I have to tell you ONE more time to put that down, you’re going to get it!”
If Chef Ramsey were to “nicely” tell them what to change, the owners would not take his advice seriously. This is why the who yelling at them sometimes works to knock some sense into them.
Ever seen “Millionaire Matchmaker” or something like that, a reality show about hooking up people with millionaires for dates? The matchmaker interviews the millionaires, and sometimes she has to have a smack down with them and yell at them for doing it all wrong and why they are doing it all wrong.
I’ve done it myself recently. After being nice with a music artist on his marketing, I had to be mean and basically chew him out.
A week later, not only was I hired, he had given me 3 referrals.
Sorry, got off topic.
Anyway, all business owners should be required to watch this show. They might learn something.
Chris says:
Lee, I had the same thought but you beat me to the post. He addresses the same issues time after time, especially simplying the menu and the freshness and quality of ingredents. We (graphic designers) really can learn from this.
Gary Quinn says:
Iv always enjoyed Ramseys kitchen programs, as a former trainee chef it amazes me how bad people can let things get in a kitchen. I believe that the ideas Ramsey and Lee have stated here are essential to any good business.
Matt Chatterley says:
A good start on taking a different spin on things (or at least using ‘pop’ culture to discuss it – there are a few things that could be taken away from this, but also a lot of ways in which it could be expanded.
I’d like to think that a lot of developers already think this sort of way – but really it boils down to one thing – high standards. The higher they are (and the firmer you are in sticking to them) the better.
Lee says:
@Elidet: You have a good point and I think you’re right. Although if I was told Gordon was coming to my restaurant, I would watch a few previous episodes and take not of what he likes/dislikes. Although that wouldn’t make great TV :)
@Matt: You’re absolutely right. High standards is a winner!
Drake says:
This article is really a great food for thought for lots of wed designers out there. Be it veterans or newbie alike.
I have to agree a lot on this article as I’ve been following Gordon Ramsey’s shows around. And am glad that I’m not alone agreeing that Gordon’s way of handling issues, especially frankness in opinions (albeit too frankly :D) by giving feedbacks and constructive criticism.
Lots of time, clients tend to overlook this idea of doing so and regularly misconstrued the whole discussion as a form of insult. As you can see, designers will need to constantly educate the business users that there are a lot more about usability than just, running their business.
Because, as Elidet said it, we don’t just create useful websites, we also create a branding that makes an impact in the Internet.
erick says:
If only the graphic designers that work with him applied this…tbh they have made some horrible things and in some cases came out even worse than the original… but hey the kitchen’s were fixed!