Cotogna
Business enablement and digital systems
Context & Brief:
Cotogna is a neighborhood Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s Jackson Square, known for daily-changing, farm-driven menus and a convivial, community-oriented approach to hospitality. As the more casual counterpart to three-Michelin-star Quince, Cotogna needed digital systems that reflected warmth and spontaneity while supporting the operational demands of a busy restaurant.
Across multiple initiatives, the work focused on building flexible, reliable digital tools that could adapt to daily change, support new revenue models, and maintain brand clarity under real-world constraints.
→ Cotogna Website
→ Cotogna at Home
→ Cotogna Pastificio Club
Cotogna Website
Goal:
Cotogna’s existing website no longer supported the pace of the restaurant. Daily menu changes, seasonal content, and neighborhood relationships required frequent updates, but a dated CMS made those updates inefficient. The goal was to redesign the site to better reflect Cotogna’s warmth and seasonality while enabling the team to manage content with ease and independence.
Design System:
The website was designed as a flexible editorial system, balancing storytelling with utility:
Editorial typographic hierarchy supporting menus and narrative content
Modular page layouts adaptable to frequent updates
Photography-forward layouts conveying craft and hospitality
Interactive daily menus for food, wine, and cocktails
A visual language that differentiated Cotogna from Quince while maintaining brand alignment
Execution:
I led art direction and served as project lead, shaping layout, structure, and visual hierarchy in close collaboration with a developer. The site also established clear connections to sister businesses — Quince, Verjus, and Gelateria di Cotogna — reinforcing neighborhood context and continuity.
Cotogna at Home:
Rapid Digital Pivot (March 2020)
Goal:
With the sudden COVID-19 shutdown, Cotogna needed to pivot immediately to takeout and delivery — something the restaurant had never offered. The system had to launch quickly, accommodate daily inventory changes, pace orders to protect food quality, and comply with evolving local regulations.
The System:
A preorder-based digital ordering solution was implemented using CognitoForms, selected for its flexibility, speed, and low cost. The system supported:
Daily menu updates
Order caps and timed release windows
Custom pricing, taxes, and service charges
Clear UX for both guests and staff
A dedicated landing page housed the ordering flow, menus, and instructions, designed to minimize confusion during a moment of uncertainty.
Cotogna Pastificio Club:
Subscription Program & Packaging System
Goal:
As Cotogna at Home stabilized, the opportunity emerged to extend the program into a monthly pasta subscription. The goal was to design a system that felt brand-forward while remaining cost-effective, operationally efficient, and easy to fulfill at scale.
Design System:
Packaging: Stackable, space-efficient boxes designed for pickup and delivery
Instruction Cards: Clear, reusable layouts optimized for use in the kitchen
Sticker System: Bold, minimal labels serving as both brand markers and functional signifiers for packing, quality checks, and delivery logistics
Outcome:
The system reduced fulfillment errors, improved operational clarity, and reinforced brand consistency across every touchpoint — from kitchen to guest’s home.
Art Direction | Graphic Design | Web Design | Digital Systems | Production Design