The Idea
It was a frigid December evening in Chicago, and I was hungry. Tiptoeing to the kitchen, I found a partially stale Costco croissant tucked away in some dusty plastic tupperware at the back of our pantry. Balancing it in my palm, I began to reminisce about my days in Oxford, enjoying warm, golden pastries and debating my tutor about Locke's interpretation of sovereignty. The term before, I had similarly invigorating discussions with my peers in Beijing about the One Child Policy and the Prime Minister of Japan, but over steamy youtiao and perfectly sweet doujiang. Peeling my eyes away from the pitiful croissant, I began to conceptualise my ideal restaurant, one that served all these scrumptious treasures in a friendly, welcoming environment.
How It Works
*Sigh*, I am a designer, not a restaurateur. So, I did the best thing I could think of. I got to work sketching my favourite foods and mementoes that remind me of these lovely places and dlicious treats. My idea of a themed online photobooth serves as a place where friends can snap pictures in my lovely "café" without having to set foot in it!
Basically, the site welcomes users with a cute poster, then asks them to upload or take photos. After selecting an image, they can add stickers (one of the cute icons included above) and can download the resulting image to their device.
This project was coded in JavaScript/HMTL/CSS and sketched out with Figma and Sketchbook. It was inspired by a project built by Youtuber @Nashallery.
The colours and sketches were inspired by random Pinterest finds. While the site is finished, I'm still thinking about the branding and concept for this potential endeavour…
Takeaways
Overall, I learned how to complete a design project from beginning to end, building the back-end side and ensuring front-end visuals are easy and intuitive. I also received positive feedback from my friends and family when sharing the link! If you use the site, feel free to share your images with me— I'd love to see your "visit" to my café.