Designing for a real shop, not a class brief

This one's different from the coursework projects — Jade Tea is my family's actual boba shop, and the site is live and used by real customers today, not a prototype. That changes the job: instead of designing for a hypothetical user, I was designing around what the shop actually needed to run — a menu people could browse before walking in, hours and location up front, a direct link into the shop's online ordering system, and an easy way for customers to reach out.

The homepage leads with the shop's signature drink and a bit of the brand story — the shop's name plays on matcha's nickname, "liquid jade," which shaped the green, tea-forward palette and the imagery throughout the site. From there it's structured simply: menu, contact, directions, and a prominent link to order online, since for a boba shop the most important action a visitor can take is placing an order.

Working with family as the client meant balancing their preferences and the shop's practical needs against clean design instincts — a good exercise in real-world design constraints that a class project doesn't really teach.