2026 · Brand strategy · Redesign · Digital
Bringing the quiet intelligence of Japanese fermentation to a modern European cuisine.
Role
Lead UX-UI designer
Timeline
12 weeks · (Autumn 2025)
Collaborators
Founder, graphic, photographer
Launch market
The challenge
Turn a brand that came alive only on social media into a trustworthy digital platform that extends its reach and brings in more clients.
My role
Led research, art direction, e-commerce UX, design system, prototyping, and production handoff.
The result
A fresh, vibrant website that gives the brand a home beyond social media and turns followers into guests at supper dinners and catered events.
03
Audience insights
8 interviews
Primary audience · The food enthusiast
CULTURALLY CURIOUS. SHORT ON TIME. DIVERSE BUDGET.
Urban food lovers, 28–45, who book pop-up dinners, follow chefs on Instagram, and plan team events or private celebrations around good food. They want shared, memorable evenings with real quality behind them, but walk away from anything that feels exclusive, pretentious, or hard to book.
“Exciting new food that makes me go 'wait, what is this?' That's my kind of night out.”
Interview participant · Zürich
01 · Entry point
Lead with two offers
“Is it a supper club or catering?" came up again and again. Splitting the homepage into two clear paths removed the guesswork.
02 · Trust
Show the people, not just the plates
Guests, hosts, and long tables built more credibility than food close-ups. Testimonials and a real team story did the rest.
03 · TRANSPARENCY
Put the details up front
Menus, prices, dietary notes, and dates on the first screen. Unknowns felt like risk, and clarity felt like an invitation.
04 · BOOKING
Make yes the easy part
A short calendar, a simple form, and a clear confirmation. If booking takes more than two minutes, curiosity fades.
Koji unlocks sweetness, umami, and tenderness. Wiedikoji unlocks the table, turning fermentation into shared evenings for curious eaters. The website lets newcomers see that from the first click: real people, clear menus, honest prices, and a booking that just works.
Perception
A
Powerful, but unfamiliar
Strong on social media, unknown beyond it. Outside its followers, had no place to be discovered, understood, or booked.
Perception
B
Presence mismatch
Instagram showed a lively, social brand. The website showed something static and unclear. Newcomers couldn't tell what it offered, or why they should trust it.
02
Current website stage
Research findings and friction points
Current website
Desktop view
Research findings
Current state analysis
The current website stage
I started by looking at how people currently discover and interact with Wiedikoji.
Through conversations with stakeholders and reviewing the existing website, it became clear that the content (catering, products, supper clubs, and workshops) was present, but not clearly structured. The information felt fragmented, making it difficult to quickly understand what Wiedikoji offers.
At the same time, the digital experience did not fully reflect the identity of the project. The layout was rigid and not responsive, and the visual language felt disconnected from the more dynamic and expressive presence on social media.
These inconsistencies reduced clarity and engagement, especially on mobile. From these observations, I identified key friction points and defined the main user flows and priorities for the redesign.
Palette & type
Koji orange
Rice
Washi
Moromi
UMAMI, UNLOCKED.
A living culture for special days.
Photography direction
2026
Macro texture, quiet hands, honest ingredients—every frame makes the living culture feel tangible and desirable.
Graphic language
2026
Colour: Saturated and sunny. Typography: Hand-lettered and imperfect. Illustration: Organic and hand-made. Pattern & composition. one: Retro, festive, and social.
06
Catering
Four packages built around guests, not guesswork
Packages are organized by the size of the table, not by a list of dishes. Guest count, price range, and number of dishes sit side by side, so clients can choose in seconds and adjust from there.
SMALL · 2–4 PEOPLE · €
A table for close friends.
6 dishes across savoury and sweet bread, finger food, bigger bites, and small pastries. Made for small gatherings at home.
MEDIUM · 4–10 PEOPLE · €€
Room for apéro.
11 dishes, adding apéro plates and small bites to the mix. Sized for boutique events and dinners that stretch into the evening.
LARGE · 10–20 PEOPLE · €€€
A spread with a centrepiece.
20 dishes, now with a big cake on the table. Built for private events, birthdays, and celebrations.
MAXIMUM · 20+ PEOPLE · €€€€
From breakfast to after-work.
27 dishes across every category, from light lunches to full apéros. Designed for corporate teams and large events.
One fixed menu, one long table, friends and strangers side by side. Every supper club page shows the menu, the mood, and the next date at a glance, with booking one tap away.
01
Browse by date
Upcoming supper clubs at a glance: date, place, and price, no Substack detour.
02
See the night
The fixed menu, photos of past tables, and guest words show what the evening feels like before you commit.
03
Grab a seat
Pick a date, choose your seats, confirm. Booked in under two minutes, with dietary notes included.
Responsive storytelling
BEATIFUL AND SIMPLE IN EVERY SCROLL.
Mobile preserves the editorial pace while keeping useful information handy.
The redesign gave Wiedikoji a clear, trustworthy home online, while keeping the vibrant, hand-made energy that made people follow them in the first place.
01 · Key takeaways
01
Brand
People build trust, not plates
Testing showed food close-ups alone felt static. Guests, hosts, and long tables made the brand feel real to people who had never met it.
02
Messaging
Two offers, two clear paths
"Supper club or catering?" was the first question everyone asked. Splitting the site into two paths answered it before anyone had to.
03
System
Cards over walls of text
Menus, packages, and event details moved into scannable cards, so a lot of information never felt like too much
Checklist
Show people at the table, not just the food.
Separate supper clubs and catering from the first screen.
Put menus, prices, and dietary notes up front.
Project outcomes
“I started this project after my Math PhD, and now I can focus on Koji research”
Lisa· Founder, WIEDIKOJI
10
Reflection
What the work reinforced
Making prices clear and booking simple wasn't only a usability decision. It's how Wiedikoji shows its guests it values their time before they've even sat down.
Learning 01
Consistency builds trust
People might find the website or the Instagram first. Either way, it should be obvious they've found the same brand.
Learning 02
Made with care, made for community
The food is our craft, but the people at the table make the evening. You pay for the dinner and walk away with the experience and a community.