Problem Framing
The guest experience starts before a visit.
The Problem
The information available online was not updated to the current menu or operation schedule.
One observation stayed with me: guests at Victor sometimes arrived with photos from Google Reviews or a menu they had seen online, and I had to explain that the information was no longer current. That made the website more than a visual design task. Guests needed information they could use to decide where to go and what to expect.
I explored hospitality websites in FigJam, looking at how they combined atmosphere, storytelling, menus, location information, and paths to visiting. I also recorded questions about long image-led pages: could someone find the menu and hours quickly, especially on a phone? Those were questions to evaluate, rather than findings from a completed usability study.
For Love Street, the design challenge was to communicate the venue’s character while keeping practical information easy to reach.
I organized guest tasks and examples of inconsistent online information to frame the design problem. This was exploratory analysis informed by workplace observations. Select the image to enlarge it.
My Role
Turning Workplace Context Into Design Decisions
Research and Problem Framing
Connected firsthand guest observations and website exploration to practical information needs, including menus, hours, and directions.
Systems and Information Design
Mapped asset and approval obstacles, then proposed a shared structure for approved files, templates, and content ownership.
Communication and Prioritization
Presented recommendations to the owners and separated a feasible pilot from longer-term possibilities.
I was working as a bartender at The Victor Bar when I introduced myself to the new manager as a UX designer. Improving the websites was one of his goals, and I offered to help. That conversation led to an internship with an initial scope of website work for all three venues.
Working inside the business gave me a useful perspective. I knew the atmosphere, interacted with guests, and had relationships with employees across the group. I could connect what people experienced in person with the information they encountered online.
Working behind the bar gave me firsthand context for the guest & employee experience.
Website Design
Bring Love Street’s character online and make the details easy to find.
I built the Love Street website in Squarespace. The live site uses photography to introduce the space and cocktail experience, with a short navigation for Home, Drinks, and Contact. The Drinks page presents an on-page menu with categories for Cocktails, Beer and Wine, and Spirit Free, alongside a PDF option. Location and hours appear in the footer, and the Contact page provides information for event inquiries.
These features illustrate how the site serves two purposes: helping someone get a feel for the bar and giving them practical information for a visit. The finished website is a concrete output of the internship. Its effect on visits, bookings, or revenue has not been measured for this case study.
A closer look at the implemented Drinks page: on-page categories alongside atmosphere-setting photography.
Built on Squarespace
Workflow Discovery
Connecting Workflow Problems to Design Responses
Progress took longer than I expected. Balancing the internship with school and bartending limited my availability. Finding current assets and moving questions through approvals also slowed the work. I sought mentorship through school as I continued the project.
I traced recurring delays to the way content moved through the team: finding usable photography, confirming current logos and menus, and waiting for decisions. This reframed the problem from finishing individual website pages to organizing the information, assets, and responsibilities that supported them.
What I encountered | What I proposed |
|---|---|
Creative files were scattered or difficult to locate. | A shared library of approved logos, photography, menus, and templates. |
Current content was not always readily available. | Regular visits to capture new assets and confirm venue information. |
Questions and approvals moved through several people. | A defined creative role with regular collaboration and clearer responsibility. |
New work required finding or recreating existing materials. | Reusable brand standards and templates for future updates. |
I paired the obstacles I encountered with proposed responses. This shows how I translated an operational problem into a design recommendation. The improvements remained proposals.
Proposing a Solution
Designing a Shared System for Creative Work
I used the recurring obstacles to define a broader design opportunity: make approved materials easier to find, clarify who maintains them, and reduce the need to recreate work.
I proposed a shared workflow connecting website upkeep, photography, menus, and asset organization. A defined creative role would give the work a point of ownership and help managers coordinate updates alongside daily operations.
I wanted to maintain the identities the venues already had and make their digital presence reflect them more accurately. I also wanted to make future collaboration easier: partners could use approved materials rather than tracing logos or guessing at fonts and colors.
The proposed library would hold approved logos, colors, typography, photography, menu templates, and social and promotional assets in one shared location.
The proposed asset library shows how I organized reusable materials for future collaborators. It is a concept for a shared resource, rather than an implemented system.
Scoping the Pilot
Prioritizing What to Build First
I presented a three-to-four-month pilot to the owners, separating immediate website and asset needs from longer-term ideas. The proposal gave stakeholders a concrete scope to discuss and a way to assess what the work would require.
Proposed pilot priorities | Longer-term possibilities |
|---|---|
Continue website work, including sites for Victor and Bistro. | Expand the shared brand standards and asset library. |
Create fresh photography and other assets. | Explore merchandise and other branded materials. |
Start regular social updates. | Support outside collaborations and future venue launches. |
Begin organizing existing files and developing a shared brand kit. | Plan more proactively for campaigns, events, and promotions. |
I proposed evaluating the pilot through practical questions: Were websites and listings current? Were approved assets easy to find? How quickly could the team turn an update into usable materials? These were suggested evaluation criteria, rather than measured results.
Outcome & Next Steps
What I Bring to a Design Team
The completed Love Street website is the implemented outcome. The selected work here also shows how I frame a problem, organize information, and communicate a direction stakeholders can assess.
The expanded role and proposed system were not approved for implementation. The proposal demonstrates my approach to systems thinking and stakeholder communication; its operational impact was not measured.
I bring experience connecting what people need with what a team can realistically build and maintain. In this project, that meant moving from guest-facing website decisions to the content structures, reusable assets, and working relationships behind them.