Overview
As I began exploring AI-assisted web design, I chose Hideaway Coffee House - a real specialty café tucked away in Soho, London - as the subject for this concept project. The goal was to translate its existing identity into a digital experience that matched the intimacy and character of the physical space, while pushing my own creative range in a new medium.

My Role
I led all visual and creative decisions - mood, layout, typography, colour palette, and image direction. Front-end development was executed using AI-assisted coding tools, which allowed me to focus entirely on design thinking rather than implementation.

The Design Decisions
Dark background over light: Most café websites default to white - clean, minimal, safe. I deliberately moved away from that. Hideaway is a hidden gem by nature, and the deep near-black background reflects that - intimate, moody, discovered rather than stumbled upon. It also makes the food and drink photography come alive, letting the matcha greens and warm pastry tones do the visual heavy lifting without any artificial enhancement.

Gold italic typography: The serif italic in warm gold was chosen to bring warmth and personality into an otherwise restrained palette. It functions like candlelight within the layout - specific, unhurried, quietly luxurious. Pairing it with clean white sans-serif kept the elegance from tipping into excess and ensured readability stayed intact across every section.

Three-column card layout: For the menu, I wanted the experience to feel like browsing rather than reading. Three equal columns give the eye multiple entry points simultaneously - abundant without being cluttered. Every card leads with a full-bleed photograph because for a café like Hideaway, the visual experience of the coffee is the first and most important selling point.

Tools Used
Adobe Photoshop
VS Code
AI-assisted development tools
HTML/CSS

Type of Work
Concept project - inspired by a real brand, independently initiated as part of my exploration into AI-assisted web design.

Final Output
A fully designed, functional concept website for a London specialty café - featuring a dark editorial aesthetic, a scrollable menu and coffee selection showcase, customer testimonials, and a location footer - crafted to make visitors feel the atmosphere of the space before they ever arrive.

→ Live site: hideawaycoffeehouse.netlify.app