Sourdough District Case Study
TIMELINE
1 Month
PROJECT TYPE
Product Design & UX
LIVE SITE
01
Project Overview:
Sourdough District is a New York City micro-bakery making artisan sourdough bread from scratch. I was brought on as the founding designer and digital marketer, responsible for building the entire web presence from zero: brand identity, information architecture, ordering flow, and growth strategy. The site launched in February 2026 and became the business's primary sales channel from day one.
02
The Business Challenge
Launch an unknown NYC micro-bakery into a competitive artisan food market with zero existing audience and make the website functional, trustworthy, and converting from launch day.
03
Key Constraints
Solo baker operation with limited production capacity. Required a pre-order model (not instant checkout). No brand equity at launch.
04
Outcome
+900% month-over-month traffic growth in the first 30 days. 459 pageviews, 234 unique visitors, and a bounce rate improvement of -9% — all from a standing start with no paid advertising.
Problem Statement:
My Role & Scope
End-to-end UX and UI design, brand identity creation, Squarespace build and configuration, pre-order flow design, SEO setup, social media integration strategy, and ongoing analytics-driven iteration.
Research:
Launching a direct-to-consumer food business online means fighting multiple fronts simultaneously. The design had to address all three layers of friction users would feel before placing their first pre-order.
🤝Trust Without a Track Record
Customers were being asked to pre-order bread from someone they'd never heard of. No reviews, no press, no social proof. The design had to build credibility from scratch — through craft, story, and visual language alone.
🍞Conveying Artisan Quality Digitally
Sourdough is a sensory product — smell, texture, weight. Communicating "luxury micro-bakery" quality through a screen required deliberate visual hierarchy, warm photography direction, and typography that felt handcrafted.
📦Pre-Order Flow Clarity
Unlike standard e-commerce, pre-orders require more user education upfront. When will it arrive? How does this work? The ordering UX had to be frictionless while explaining a non-standard fulfillment model to first-time buyers.