Piccolo Vicolo

Role: Product & UX/UI Designer
Duration: 2 Months
Platform: Web + Mobile responsive
Tools: Figma · FigJam · Adobe Illustrator · Adobe Photoshop

Overview

Piccolo Vicolo is a beloved Italian café in Ascot Vale seeking to modernise its digital presence. The project focused on improving the café’s outdated website by introducing a seamless online browsing and reservation experience to enhance customer engagement and support business growth.

Key Contributions

  • Conducted market and user research to understand café customers’ online expectations and competitors’ booking systems.

  • Led user interviews to uncover pain points in discovering menus, contact details, and reservation processes.

  • Created sketches, wireframes, and interactive prototypes to test usability and visual direction.

  • Designed responsive layouts optimised for both desktop and mobile.

  • Facilitated user testing sessions to validate flow, accessibility, and booking functionality.

Challenges

  • The existing website had no booking function and outdated content from pre-COVID operations, which made it difficult to attract or retain customers online.

  • Needed to balance brand personality and usability, maintaining the café’s cosy, local aesthetic while ensuring modern functionality.

  • Worked within limited client resources, requiring creative, low-cost digital solutions.

Outcome

  • Delivered a new user-centred design with clear navigation, updated menus, and integrated reservation functionality.

  • Improved mobile usability and page loading speed, enhancing customer satisfaction and conversion potential.

  • Provided the owner with easy content-update options, ensuring sustainability beyond the design phase.

  • Strengthened the café’s digital identity, aligning the online experience with its warm, authentic brand.

Piccolo Vicolo website - laptop version