I designed and built the Webflow site for an independent Italian-inspired pasta restaurant in Nottingham, launched before the doors opened.
Pici needed a website ready for launch, but this wasn't a brand-heavy project. The restaurant's appeal is the food and the atmosphere. Two chefs doing things properly, self-funded, no gimmicks.
The site had to reflect that. Confident, minimal, and elevated without being pretentious. It also needed to hold its own against high-end independents like Onda in Manchester.
I worked closely with the founders through regular check-ins during the design process, to make sure the direction felt right. The brief pushed towards restraint. Strong typography, a limited colour palette, and letting the photography do the heavy lifting.
The challenge was making minimal feel intentional and premium rather than empty. I did the visual design across the full site, built it in Webflow, art-directed the hero montage, and put a good share of the time into image optimisation and performance.
The hero needed to capture atmosphere without using video. I made an animated photo montage instead. Around 12 images cycling on a 200ms delay, layered at slightly different sizes and positions, like someone dropping printed photos onto a table.
The tricky part was keeping the file size manageable. I used APNG to get the animation quality I wanted without bloating the page or breaking on older devices. It gives the site a tactile feel that a static image or a standard slider wouldn't have.
The site launched alongside the restaurant and has been live for about a year. Pici has been fully booked since opening, and the site has picked up consistent praise on social media.
If I'd had more room I'd have pushed the creative direction further, but the restraint was right for this one. It reflects who the founders are and how they run the restaurant.
