Archived project: Elchi Chai Shop is no longer operating.
Role: Content Strategist, Writer + Designer
Contribution: Brand strategy, content strategy, UX, visual design + website development
Client: Elchi Chai Shop, Toronto
Project Type: Small-business digital experience
The Challenge
Elchi Chai Shop was a Toronto café founded by two sisters with a simple idea: bring a more authentic chai experience to Toronto.
The challenge was to turn that idea into a complete digital presence for a new small business, one that could introduce the founders, communicate what made Elchi’s chai distinctive and create a welcoming experience for potential customers.
With no large agency team behind the project, the website needed to bring together strategy, storytelling, content, UX and visual design into one cohesive brand experience.
The Approach
I developed the experience from the ground up, beginning with the story behind the business and the people who created it.
Rather than positioning Elchi simply as another café, I built the website around the founders’ perspective and their passion for chai. That story became the foundation for the brand voice and the way the product was presented.
The content was designed to answer the questions a new customer would naturally have:
Who are they?
What makes Elchi different?
What is their chai like?
What can I order?
Why should I visit?
The result was a digital experience that combined personality and product information without making the site feel overly commercial.
The Work
I handled the project end to end, including:
- Brand and content strategy
- Information architecture
- Website copy and editorial voice
- UX and page structure
- Visual design
- Image selection and art direction
- Website design and development
- Content organization and presentation
The design and content worked together to create a warm, approachable identity that reflected the character of the business and its founders.
The Experience
The website balanced storytelling, product education, and utility.
The founders’ story gave visitors a reason to connect with the business. Product-focused content explained the thinking behind Elchi’s chai and helped distinguish it from more conventional tea and café offerings. The navigation and page structure then made the practical information easy to find.
The result was intentionally different from a generic restaurant template: the website was designed to feel like Elchi, rather than simply provide information about it.
A Different Scale of Problem
Elchi demonstrates another side of my practice: working directly from business idea to finished digital experience.
At larger organizations, I have worked within multidisciplinary teams, complex stakeholder environments and highly regulated industries. With Elchi, I brought those same strategic, content and UX principles to a small independent business—and owned the experience from concept through design and execution.
