Greater Boston residents and visitors looking to discover and support Black-owned restaurants, bars and lounges; business owners who want to be included.
Supporting case · Community directory · Editorial concept
Black Food & Bev
A culturally specific food-and-drink directory concept that combines category discovery, local search and editorial storytelling.
Role & scopeUX direction · Content hierarchy · Visual design · Prototype
Product surfaceSearch, categories, featured venues, directory, owner CTA
OutcomeA focused discovery concept with community-led positioning
EvidenceSelf-contained responsive front-end prototype
01 / Situation
What needed to become clearer
A directory has to be useful before it is comprehensive. Visitors need a fast way to find a place, but the product also needs a point of view strong enough to feel like a community resource rather than an anonymous database.
Discover → Browse → Contribute
02 / Design logic
A few decisions that shaped the result
Combine search and browsing
A direct search handles known needs while cuisine categories support open-ended discovery. Neither mode is treated as secondary.
Lead with culture, not only utility
Editorial language and featured venues establish why the directory exists. The catalogue then carries the practical depth.
Make supply growth part of the interface
A clear business-owner invitation turns missing coverage into a participation route instead of hiding the limits of the directory.
03 / Final interface
Open the designed experience
04 / Result & evidence
What this case can honestly show
Observed result
The concept includes category navigation, search behaviour, featured establishments and a complete directory section. Names and counts are representative portfolio content; the prototype is not presented as an authoritative live database.