Afterglow Kitchen
Dinner moves differently here.
A high-contrast, dinner-first website for a Washington DC Asian kitchen and late-night bar — built around the two decisions guests actually make: book a table or order pickup.
01 — Hero
An unapologetically large wordmark set against a full-bleed sushi platter, framed by a late-night operating strip. The two primary actions — Order Pickup and Book a Table — hold the top-right corner from first scroll to last.
02 — Menu system
Four saturated category blocks (Sushi, From the Wok, Small Plates, Late Plates) act as the primary menu navigation. Color does the sorting — orange for sushi, neon yellow for wok, aubergine for small plates, ivory for late-night — so the menu reads at a glance.
03 — Signature rolls
A dedicated Cut / Roll / Share section pairs a monumental type stack with editorial food photography and a nightly-selection price list — designed to feel like a printed dinner insert, not a generic menu grid.
04 — Bar program
Bright Drinks. Dark Room. — the cocktail program lives on a deep aubergine page with four hero pours, each priced and captioned. A single Book the Bar CTA converts casual browsers into late-night guests.
The challenge
Afterglow needed a site that felt like the room after 9pm — dark, deliberate, a little loud — without buying into predictable restaurant tropes. The brief called for oversized typography, editorial menu blocks, and a reservation path that never lets go of the primary action.
Our approach
We anchored the hero on a full-bleed sushi shot with a monumental "AFTER / GLOW" wordmark, then broke the menu into four saturated category blocks (Sushi, Wok, Small Plates, Late Plates). Every scroll returns to a single dominant CTA — Book a Table or Order Pickup — with a persistent late-night operating strip at the top of the page.
Design objective
A dinner-led site with a clear late-night personality: two primary actions above the fold, an editorial menu system that reads as confidently as the room, and a bar program presented as its own destination.
Scope of work
- Brand direction
- Website design
- Menu system
- Reservation flow
- Photography art direction
- Bar program microsite
Disclosure
This is a Reachtive concept project. It is an independent work created to demonstrate our strategy, design, and development capabilities. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or created for any real company, and any names, contact details, or imagery are fictional or for demonstration purposes only.
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