Pacific Dining Car

Comprehensive brand ecosystem for the historic Pacific Dining Car. Blending UX web design, print event collateral, merchandise, and digital marketing.

Project Overview:

Internet Presence and Ecommerce Platform for Pacific Dining Car

Design and develop the historic Pacific Dining Car's website refresh, showcasing our user-centered approach to enhancing the online experience while preserving the restaurant's rich legacy and timeless charm.

I interviewed stakeholders and potential users from diverse backgrounds to gather insights on their dining needs, preferences, and perceptions of the restaurant's history and ambiance. This feedback shapes the user journey and ensures the website will be both informative and appealing to a broad audience.

I created UX components to visually articulate these findings, following the standard UX design process:

• User Personas
• Journey Maps
• Site Map
• User Flow
• Wireframes
• Hi-Fidelity Design
• Style Guide
• Prototype

For the design direction I chose the motif "A Century of Dining Excellence," pairing Pacific Dining Car's iconic color palette with elegant typographic accents to maintain a timeless, welcoming look and feel. Once the client approved the structure and design choices, I created a mockup for user testing. The website has entered development, will undergo another round of user testing, with a planned launch that provides an inclusive, luxurious online experience for all users.

A look at where the process led — scroll to see the full UX work behind these designs.

The Process

Step 1

User Personas

Two primary personas were developed from stakeholder interviews and user research: Marcus, a time-pressed entertainment attorney who hosts regular business lunches; and Jade, a late-night creative who plans social outings for her friend group. Each persona captures goals, behaviors, pain points, and the specific pages each user needs.

Step 2

Journey Maps

Journey maps trace each persona's full experience arc — from the moment a need arises through post-visit sentiment. Each map surfaces emotional highs and lows across six stages, identifying where the current site creates friction and where design improvements will have the greatest impact.

Step 3

Site Map

The information architecture audit revealed critical gaps in the current structure: no reservation system, no e-commerce, and navigation that buries high-value content. The proposed site map adds a Reservations section, a Shop, a Visit section, and a reorganised utility footer — growing from 13 pages to 25 while keeping the hierarchy to two levels deep.

Step 4

User Flow

User flow diagrams map the step-by-step paths users take to complete key tasks: making an online reservation and researching the restaurant as a first-time visitor. Each flow identifies decision points, alternative paths, and system processes, with smart defaults and progressive disclosure designed to maximise conversion while reducing cognitive load.

Step 5

Wireframes

Low-fidelity wireframes establish the structural layout of key pages before visual design begins. The homepage redesign leads with a strong hero, a prominent "Reserve Your Table" CTA, and quick-access links to menus, private events, café, and location. Mobile wireframes prioritise the phone number, a one-tap reservation button, and streamlined quick links — addressing Jade's core need of confirming hours and walk-in policy in seconds.

Step 6

Hi-Fidelity Design

With wireframes and architecture approved, the designs were elevated to full fidelity — applying the brand color palette, typography system, and photography. Key pages include the homepage, DineLA event landing page, and seasonal campaigns. Each screen was validated against the style guide before handoff to development.

Step 7

Style Guide

The style guide codifies Pacific Dining Car's visual language for the redesign: a rich palette of Rich Black, Warm Brown, and Cream anchored by Deep Burgundy, Forest Green, and Gold accents. Typography pairs Playfair Display for display headings with Source Sans Pro for body text. The guide also defines button states, spacing tokens on an 8px grid, and logo usage — providing a single reference for consistent implementation across all pages.

Summary:

• Revamped branding, engaged in community outreach, enhanced visibility & appeal, resulting in a 12% revenue increase.
• Designed email campaigns with open rates between 25%-52%, and click rates of between 2%-7%
  • Campaign creation includes planning and oversight of photo shoots and image retouching and motion animation for all content
• Established relationships with the press to feature our specials in online publications, consistently boosting site traffic by 400% for each event

Summary:

Pacific Dining Car launched branded apparel to reinforce its brand identity, increase customer engagement, create an emotional connection with its customers, and increase revenue. The initiative proved successful; the key highlights of the impact of this merchandising strategy include:

• $6200 gross sales in the 1st four months without advertising
• Zero costs upfront using 3rd party fulfillment
• Notable improvement in brand awareness