ALBA Restaurant
TEAM:
Charlotte Sverdrup - UI/ UX design
Mario Blažević - CMS Development
TOOLS:
Figma & WIX Studio
Dave Matheson, a seasoned restaurateur, expanded his portfolio in 2025 with the opening of Alba in Guernsey. Renowned for his passion for food and wine pairings, as well as expertly crafted cocktails and spirits, Alba offers a dining experience that goes beyond expectations.
My role was to design the restaurant’s website, menus (online and printed), and overall branding, ensuring a cohesive and compelling identity.
The Challenge
Designing for a startup comes with its own set of challenges, especially when key elements take shape along the way. Much of the work involved understanding the client’s evolving needs – without a set blueprint to follow. The task was flexible, yet guided by specific requirements:
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Designing a website that emphasizes graphic design over photography.
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Deciding between integrated and PDF menus for over 300 wine and spirit items, while ensuring the client can easily update both online and printed menus every three days.
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Integrating the newsletter sign-up with Mailchimp and the booking system with ResDiary.
Solution
The website design, inspired by the logo from The Potting Shed, combines simplicity and creativity to deliver a clean, functional user experience. The goal was to ensure the logo and call-to-action buttons make an immediate impact upon page load, aligning with both the client’s vision and user expectations. As a photographer, I recommended featuring a video showcasing close-ups of food preparation and shots of the restaurant’s interior and ambiance to create an immersive experience. In the meantime, an image carousel serves as a temporary solution.
Header design
The striking logo takes center stage on the homepage, and instead of the traditional logo placement in the header, the olive tree design from the Alba logo is woven throughout the site as background elements, creating a cohesive visual identity that ties everything back to the brand.
Design process
Alba's website was designed with a mobile-first approach to ensure a smooth user experience. Clear calls to action were strategically placed on key pages, making it easy for users to access the menu and booking page without wading through cluttered layouts or dense text.
The food and cocktail menus were integrated as CMS pages for easy updates, while the extensive wine and spirits list was provided as a downloadable PDF. This solution balanced practicality with usability, especially considering the challenge of displaying such a large list on mobile devices. Research also indicated that the food menu was the primary focus for most users, with the wine list mainly catering to wine enthusiasts.
