Muddy Rudder Restaurant Logo and Web Site Design

We’re excited to announce the launch of a new web site for the Muddy Rudder restaurant in Yarmouth, Maine.

Logo design

Our work with the restaurant began with the redesign of their logo.

Our rebranding efforts focused on making the restaurant appear more contemporary, with a greater appeal to younger people and families. Unfortunately, the clientele was getting older and the restaurant needed some fresh energy.

New web site design

When new owners took over the restaurant, it included the web site as well. The web design featured a water color painting of the exterior as the primary graphic. The restaurant is well-known because it’s highly visible from the road. So it seemed natural to feature this artwork.

However, the real beauty of the restaurant lies out back. Unlike the asphalt-heavy front, the back of the restaurant sits on the Cousins River with surprisingly expansive and natural views.

We felt the new design needed to feature this view. However, we didn’t have great photos to work with. It’s winter here in Maine and not the best time to invest in custom photography of the views out the dining room window. The web site needed to go live and we created a design that works with the photos that were on hand.

Here is the updated home page design, or you can see the web site design live here.

The site was already created in WordPress so we kept that platform. But in addition to the design we needed to help them move more relevant content so that it was easier to access and find.

Previously, all of their menus had been just linked PDFs. For the new site we put all of that important information as live text on the web site. Our preliminary Google Analytics shows that their menu pages are now five of the top 10 pages on their site.

Mobile optimized web site

We also knew that creating a mobile optimized version of their site was critical. Research is showing that smartphone users are accessing web sites more and more, and restaurants have a particularly high number of mobile users.

Their google analytics bears this out. 47% of their viewers are mobile!

The mobile version of their site uses the same content from WordPress so there is no duplicating content entry or anything like that.

New brand summary

With a new logo and new web site, to complement their new chef and management partners, the Muddy Rudder is ready to attract and grow a new audience of younger clientele.

Take a look at the site on both your desktop and smartphone browser and let us know your thoughts.

Does your restaurant or small business need a new web site? Give us a ring.