Web Design
Creating Visually Stunning and User-Friendly Websites
Company/ Client
Personal Project UCB WDD Decal
Role
Designer
Skills
Web& App Design User Research User Experience
Tools
Figma HTML CSS JS Github
Duration
2024
Overview
I honed my web design skills through a UC Berkeley decal class, where I learned to build and revamp websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I applied these skills to create professional portfolios and modernize small business websites, ensuring a seamless and engaging user experience. From clean, responsive layouts to interactive features, my web design projects reflect a commitment to aesthetic appeal and functional excellence.
Revamping Small Business Website
To further develop my web design skills, I tackled a project with a real problem to solve. A local Ethiopian restaurant in Berkeley had a website that was difficult to navigate, resulting in low online orders and customer confusion. I began by creating a low-fidelity prototype, which evolved into a high-fidelity design, developing a cohesive design language system along the way.
My goal was to create a modern and inviting aesthetic for the restaurant's website. I selected clean, sans-serif fonts like Krona One and Lexend for a contemporary look and balanced them with Cutive, a serif display font, for added visual interest in headers.
The color palette was inspired by the Ethiopian flag, incorporating vibrant reds, yellows, and greens. These colors, combined with playful fonts, created a lively and upbeat branding for the restaurant. The red grabbed attention, while the green and yellow maintained a fresh and appetizing feel.
I prominently featured images of the food on the menu pages, showcasing the colorful variety of dishes to visually represent the diversity of Ethiopian cuisine. For the “order” page, I used a variety of image layouts to balance symmetry and asymmetry.
Overall, the font choices, color palette, and imagery aimed to reflect the rich flavors and culture of Ethiopian cooking within a clean, contemporary style. I struck a balance between sleek, minimal design and the vibrant energy inspired by the national flag. In the future, I plan to add brief menu item descriptions and cart/order functionalities to enhance the user experience further.
Portfolio Building
Building on my experience with the restaurant website, I created a portfolio website from scratch, drawing inspiration from Google's design principles. Using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, I developed a design system that ensures a sleek, user-friendly interface. My portfolio showcases my projects with intuitive navigation and interactive elements, highlighting my skills and achievements in web design.
The original website (Fall 2023) was created in 2019 using Wix. It featured a dark color scheme to emphasize my boldness, professionalism, and add credibility as an engineer, especially in a STEM field. However, the website could benefit from a more user friendly design language and emulate a more exciting tone.
To build a more engaging and design friendly website, I explored the most famously user friendly websites, Google, Microsoft, and Notion. I took note of the colors and fonts.
