CONCEPTS / FARMERS DAUGHTER

Pull up a
yellow chair.

Farmers Daughter, Yarralumla

A neighbourhood café on Bentham Street, and a new website at a new address: farmersdaughter.app. This is the concept we had in mind for it, drawn out area by area, with the menu and the photos at its heart. Further down: what the café went with.

Client & sector: Farmers Daughter · Hospitality
Location: Yarralumla, Canberra
The concept: A new website at farmersdaughter.app
Three concept sheets
What we built: Website, menu & gallery
Ivy, the website assistant
Client story: Read the client story

01 / THE WELCOME

The room is the welcome.

The concept opens on the café itself: the charcoal wall with its name, the pendant cages and the yellow bentwood chairs, beside the line ‘Pull up a yellow chair.’ An ‘open’ sign in the window turns itself over from the café’s hours, and the answers people look for first sit up front: open seven days, walk-ins welcome, no bookings. On a phone, the menu, a call and directions are all a thumb away, with Ivy, the café’s helper, there for the quick questions.

Concept sketch of the Farmers Daughter homepage on desktop and phone, at the address farmersdaughter.app: a charcoal header with the café’s golden coffee-ring mark; the handwritten headline Pull up a yellow chair, with See the menu and Plan your visit buttons; a sketch of the room, with the café’s name on a charcoal wall, pendant cage lights, a timber table between two yellow bentwood chairs, and an ‘open’ sign hanging in the window; three cards for Campos coffee, made fresh daily and dogs welcome; and a charcoal band reading open seven days, walk-ins welcome, no bookings, Monday to Friday 7am to 3pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am to 3pm. The notes read: a new address that’s easy to say; an ‘open’ sign that turns itself over, from the café’s hours; the room is the hero, real photos, yellow chairs and all; and on the phone, open or closed and until when, before anything else; the menu, one thumb away; and Ivy, the café’s helper, answers the quick ones. — Concept sheet 1: the welcome, on desktop and phone.View full size (opens in a new tab)

02 / THE MENU

The whole menu, drawn like the café’s own blackboard, with a tab for each part of the day: breakfast, lunch, the specials, sweets, coffee and drinks. Every dish has its price lined up beside it and a V or GF mark where it applies, and the day’s specials get a board of their own. It’s a real menu, not a PDF, so it’s easy to read on a phone and quick to update.

Concept sketch of the menu page on desktop and phone: the whole menu drawn as a blackboard in a timber frame, headed The Menu, made fresh each morning, with chalk tabs for breakfast, lunch, specials, sweets, coffee and drinks. Breakfast, until 11:30am, lists eggs your way $14, big breakfast $26, eggs benedict $21, shakshuka $22 marked V, smashed avo $19 marked V and breakfast wrap $15; lunch lists fried chicken burger $22, chicken salad $21 marked GF, fish tacos $20 and brisket toastie $16; and a board of today’s specials lists roast pumpkin soup, spaghetti bolognese, pork dumpling soup and beef stir fry. The notes read: the whole menu, drawn like the board on the wall; tabs for each part of the day; V and GF marked beside each dish; a real menu, not a PDF, easy to read and quick to change; the specials get their own board, chalked up daily; and on the phone, the tabs scroll sideways under your thumb, in big, clear type. — Concept sheet 2: the menu as a blackboard, on desktop and phone.View full size (opens in a new tab)

03 / THE PHOTOS

Let the room do the talking.

Real photos of the café, pegged on a line like prints, each with its own little caption: the yellow chairs, the coffee bar, the specials board, the courtyard and the shopfront. Tap one and it opens big, with arrows to the next, and every photo is described for screen readers. The day-to-day lives on Instagram, one link away.

Concept sketch of the gallery page on desktop and phone, headed Come on in: five photo prints pegged on a line of twine, captioned the yellow chairs, the coffee bar, the specials board, the courtyard and the shopfront, above a link to more day-to-day on Instagram. Below, one photo opened big on a dark screen, with arrows either side, a close button and the caption the yellow chairs, 1 of 6. On the phone the prints hang two by two. The notes read: real photos from the café, never stock; pegged on a line, each with its own little caption; tap a print and it opens big, with arrows to the next; and every photo is described for screen readers. — Concept sheet 3: the photos pegged up, and one opened big.View full size (opens in a new tab)

04 / WHAT THE CAFÉ WENT WITH

What Farmers Daughter went with.

The new site is at farmersdaughter.app, and the ideas carried through, with a few changes along the way. The sketch of the room became a photograph behind the headline, and ‘Pull up a yellow chair.’ moved to the end of the home page as its closing invitation. The ‘open’ sign became a live Open now label, worked out from the café’s hours. The blackboard stayed for the specials, while the rest of the menu went onto light pages, with tabs that jump straight to each part of the day. And the pegged prints became a tidy photo grid, where every photo still opens big, with arrows to the next.

The finished Farmers Daughter homepage: a photograph of the dining room, with the café’s name in raised letters on a charcoal and yellow wall and yellow bentwood chairs at timber tables, behind the headline Your neighbourhood cafe on Bentham Street, See the Menu and Plan Your Visit buttons, and a strip reading Open now, Campos Superior coffee, 27B Bentham St, Yarralumla, and Dog friendly courtyard. — The welcome: the room itself, and an Open now label worked out from the café’s hours.View full size (opens in a new tab)

The finished menu page: a charcoal band headed The Menu, then tabs for Breakfast, Lunch, Specials Board, Sweets & Bakery, Coffee and Other Drinks, above the breakfast menu, served until 11:30am, with a dotted line to each price and a V beside the shakshuka. — The menu: a tab for each part of the day, and dishes marked V or GF.View full size (opens in a new tab)

The finished specials board on the menu page: a charcoal card headed From the Specials Board, changes daily, listing roast pumpkin soup, spaghetti bolognese, beef and brown rice stir fry and pork dumpling soup, between the lunch menu and Sweets & Bakery. — The specials board: the blackboard, kept for what changes daily.View full size (opens in a new tab)

The finished home page section A look inside, headed Warm timber, greenery & sunny yellow, with four photographs: the dining room with its yellow chairs, the coffee bar, the courtyard tables, and the café’s sign above the outdoor tables on Bentham Street, above a View the Gallery button. — A look inside: real photos of the room, the coffee bar and the courtyard.View full size (opens in a new tab)

The finished gallery with a photo opened full screen: the dining room and its yellow bentwood chairs on a dark overlay, with previous and next arrows either side and a close button. — The gallery: tap a photo and it opens big, with arrows to the next.View full size (opens in a new tab)

Read the client story Visit Farmers Daughter (opens in a new tab)

YOUR NEXT CHAPTER

Let’s make something good.

Have an idea in mind? Bring the first spark.
We’ll help you shape what comes next.

Start a conversation

Pull up a yellow chair.

The room is the welcome.

The board on the wall, brought online.

Let the room do the talking.

What Farmers Daughter went with.

Let’s make something good.

Pull up a
yellow chair.