Jacques Pépin Foundation
Producing an evolving web presence for the eponymous nonprofit
Opportunity
The Jacques Pépin Foundation (JPF) supports individuals that seek, and organizations that create, pathways to success through culinary education. A relatively new organization, the JPF needed a website to communicate its mission and vision, provide a way for interested parties to engage and support the foundation and share free video resources to those seeking a basis in culinary skills.
Outcome
What started as an assignment to update an early version of the website turned into a fullscale redesign and build of a custom WordPress website. Working from a basic site map and a minimal style guide, I created the content strategy and architecture for the site and a design framework to drive page layouts and common interface components. The custom WordPress theme enables JPF staff to update content while maintaining the integrity of the design.
Site Structure
The content of the website is broken into ten main sections. Access to these sections is provided through the main navigation and secondary navigation located in the footer of each page. Here, strategic calls-to-action provide the user with additional paths to reach significant content.
The current page is highlighted using a design detail from one of Jacques' paintings.
Jacques' hands are featured prominently in his demonstrations — chopping, fileting, deboning, working with food. This detail is referenced in the footer, under the JPF logo, to provide visual and thematic interest.
Overview
The Home page introduces the JPF's mission, vision and recent activities. It also serves as an index for much of the content on the site. Page sections are populated dynamically, using data from the custom content fields on the respective pages. This minimizes content development time and insures consistency in messaging across sections.
Promoting the Foundation
The News page brings together News items as well as a path into event recap pages. Feature images are selected to emphasize the Foundation's impact as well as the support they receive from world-class personalities in the culinary and hospitality communities. The heading “Making a Difference” links the article titles and images to the activities, and by extension, the mission and vision, of the JPF.
Mapping Impact
The JPF has supported over 100 community kitchens since 2019, donating more than one million dollars in support of culinary and life skills training. This map visualizes this impact and offers links to learn more about the respective kitchens. Individual map points link to a dedicated page for the respective partner, listing grants and donations received, as well as a list of organizations in this state.
Each dot on the map corresponds to a community kitchen in the “Our Network of Support” section of the page. Details and metadata for community kitchens are entered by staff. This information informs the position of map icons and content of individual partner pages.
A Source of Culinary Education
Jacques' contribution to the world of culinary education is impressive. The site features a curated collection of more than 100 of his iconic instruction videos organized across several categories, allowing for a custom, easy to navigate, interface.
Responsive Layouts
Over half of the site traffic comes from mobile devices. Accordingly, each detail of the site has been optimized for both small and wide screen displays.
Fine Food and Fine Art
In addition to being a world class chef (and educator and television personality), Jacques is fine art painter. He produces a painting of the menu for each fundraising event. In an effort to highlight the fine details of each of these works, I created a magnifying glass/zoom-in feature that lets visitors inspect the details of each painted menu.
