Project Type
Landing Page Concept
Role
UX Designer
(2 Months)
Services Provided
UX Research
Wireframing
Branding
Tools Used
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Designed a high-fidelity landing page for a luxury West Indian restaurant, prioritizing user-centered design.
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Developed several assets (style guides, logos, high-fidelity mockups) for the restaurant, ensuring consistent branding.
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Interviewed Caribbean and non-Caribbean users to define brand identity, target audience, and restaurant atmosphere.
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Provided user-friendly solutions for online ordering and real-time reservations
The Problem
The Accessibility Gap: While Caribbean cuisine sees massive digital interest—with Jamaican food alone generating over 700K monthly Google searches—physical access remains severely bottle-necked.
There are only roughly 2,500 registered Jamaican restaurants in the US, heavily concentrated in large coastal metros. West Indian cuisine is simply not popular or accessible outside of Caribbean communities on the East Coast. As a result, users outside of these hubs are forced to travel long distances just to experience this type of food.
The Untapped Cultural Asset: Furthermore, Guyana—despite being rich in natural beauty—receives a fraction of the tourism compared to neighboring hot spots like Jamaica or Trinidad & Tobago. Because of this lower profile, Guyana's incredibly rich culinary heritage (a unique fusion of Indigenous, African, Indian, Portuguese, Chinese, and British traditions) has gone largely unnoticed by the American restaurant scene.
This creates a unique market opportunity.
There is a high demand for Caribbean culinary experiences, but a severe lack of accessible, premium venues to fulfill it.
The Research
Research was performed through a few means. The first was to communicate with users directly via interviews, with the goal to find the ideal customer base for the restaurant, and ascertain a clear need for this cuisine.
This survey would ask various users between the ages of 20-35 questions regarding their eating, travel & dining preferences. Some questions included:
What's your opinion on Caribbean cuisine?
What was the BEST restaurant experience you've had so far?
When you think "getaway" or "escape" what comes to mind?
Key Insights
Studies shown that the sample of users:
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Generally enjoy West Indian cuisine whenever they have access to it.
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Prefer to eat at later times of the day; dining out in evening hours.
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Appreciate restaurants that offer them an exceptional ambience
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Love to travel to destinations with tropical climates for a getaway.
Users enjoy West Indian Cuisine, and appreciate restaurants with an exceptional ambience.
Asking and finding out the answers to these questions made the route to take this project very clear. This would not be a mere Carribbean restaurant, but could very well be their first experience with West Indian culture. From there, I asked myself:
What would the definitive, premium Guyanese dining experience look like?
Meet the User
In order for Golden Point to properly accomplish its goals for users, My interviews began with two questions: Where are you based, and have you tried Caribbean meals before.
For the latter, I assumed beforehand that it would be a small number. In a class of about 18, I can count on one hand, how many people answered yes to both.
From this point, the project's focus became clear. There needed to be more restaurants available for people to try this style of cooking, and it needed to be available where they are, among other things.
The result was Nichole: an adventurous young woman of West Indian heritage, who loves to travel but currently lives somewhere where she can't have her favorite meals often. She has some friends visiting for a special event and she would like to find a new place that offers a unique experience.
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Competitive Insights
After speaking with potential clients, I leaned into competitive analysis of different restaurant/lounges and their websites.
My selection include direct competing Caribbean themed establishments and indirect nationwide brands coupled with premier party halls. Names such as Negril BK, Outback Steakhouse, & The Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center were chosen based on local availability, amenities, brand recognition, and website features.
Signaling Premium Status
Competitors open Evening & Late Night offer Brunch Times - considered to be a highly social, premium event than just a meal, whereas mass-market chains do not.
Visual Education Gap
Only one competitor offers images of meals on their menu. We can take advantage of an opportunity to educate users through photography and appetizing descriptions.
Digital
Convenience
All of the competitors have an online menu available.
This tells me these have become a baseline user expectation on a restaurant's website, so Golden Point must meet this as well.
The Designs
Ver. 1 Wireframes
Wrapping up the research portion, another observation made was the difficulty navigating competitors websites for essential tasks. Thus, the first stage of designs involved a low-fidelity landing with increased utility and minimal clicking. The foundations for Golden Point began here, where users can view a menu, make orders for delivery/carryout, and book reservations via a "quick scheduler" without needing to leave the homepage.
When it came to designing the first wireframes for mobile, I tasked myself with keeping the experience consistent between this and the desktop version, considering some of the features this landing page has. So I made the decision to not change much aside from layout of elements.
Some helpful comments I received for improving the wireframes was to consider improving text visibility, and to consider how the color scheme will play into the design.
Ver. 2 Wireframes
The most important updates here were the copy for the landing page being drafted and the information hierarchy established.
Moodboard
The Moodboard went through many iterations before arriving at the final result. As the research showed users prefer nighttime dining and exceptional ambience, some wish to experience the culture beyond the cuisine. From here, I did my best to create moodboards reflective of Guyanese culture, and the settings expressed.
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From here, Golden Point's visual identity began to take shape, and from several moodboards came a complete style guide.
Logo Concepts
My first iterations of Golden Point's iconography started with a simple idea, a minimalist, modern approach to the Golden arrowhead, the heart of Guyana's flag and the namesake of the brand.
I knew from the beginning that I wanted an arrowhead to be the brand's most prominent element.
The second set of logo iterations for the brand. Here I started narrowing down ideas for a sleeker, elegant look, fitting the brand's premium presentation.
The Results
Final Style Guide
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Next Steps & Conclusion
For future updates, I'd love to flesh out this project beyond a landing page, and turn Golden Point into a not just a website, but a experience with a physical presence as well. Some ideas that immediately come to mind are:
Menu Mockup with Illustrations
Implementing new About Us, Contact, & Locations Pages on Website
All New 'Pantry' online shop with Shippable Products nationwide.
Branding Concept for a Mobile Food Truck visiting cities across the country.
With a strong visual presentation, it was an enjoyable experience bringing Golden Point to life. It remains one of my favorite projects to this day, as it was one of the first experiences where ideas turned from 0 to 1.
