Destto

I designed and built Destto to bring a venue’s page, its mobile menu and its reservations together in a single link. I worked on the guest experience, restaurant onboarding, the management dashboard and the product’s identity.

I organized the page around the questions of someone about to go out: what kind of place it is, what it offers, where it is and how to book or get in touch. Identity, photos and the main actions come first; location and reviews complete the picture.

I aimed for an interface with a premium presence, paying attention to typography, spacing and letting images lead. I wanted Destto to have personality while leaving room for each restaurant to express itself through its photos, identity and colors. That personalization had to coexist with easy-to-find actions and a menu that is comfortable to browse.

To keep things legible, I added an adjustment of the text color based on the background the venue chooses. That way, changing the look also takes into account the contrast of the information people need to read.

I designed the menu to be browsed on a phone, with accessible categories and a name, description and price for each dish. Photos are optional: the system also had to work for a bar that only had its written menu.

I planned for integration with the services venues already use to take orders from the table via QR. In this MVP, the focus is on validating the product and how it is used before adding that feature.

During implementation I revisited a decision. At first I explored inferring dietary labels from the dish name, but there was not enough ingredient information to do it reliably. I replaced that inference with labels declared by the restaurant. The interface explains that they are used to filter the menu and that only conditions the venue can confirm should be marked.

I analyzed local and international booking platforms and found flows that spread the choice of party size, date and time across several steps. I wanted to explore how to bring those decisions together without turning the screen into a form overloaded with information.

After several tests and experiments, I designed a component that brings the three choices together on a single screen, next to the person’s name. The control expands from a compact summary into a column-based picker, keeping the selected options visible. Party size, day and time can be adjusted without moving back and forth between screens; the booking is then reviewed before confirming it.

It was one of the project’s main interaction challenges: concentrating the decisions while keeping the reading simple on a phone. Availability follows the restaurant’s real shifts, including services that run past midnight. Reservations are enabled once the venue sets up its tables and hours.

The first version ended in WhatsApp after reviewing the details. I kept the review, but moved confirmation and changes into Destto so the booking kept a record within the product. The central WhatsApp channel and automated reminders are still in development.

I wanted onboarding to feel almost like magic: type the venue’s name and find its page already built. I designed the flow so the owner would see their venue from the start and could review the result, instead of facing an empty setup.

The same intent carries on with the menu: upload the PDF the venue already uses and find the menu ready to review. The account comes after seeing the result, to save the work and get a link of their own. If the owner does not have the menu at hand yet, they can complete that step later.

After uploading the PDF, the owner finds the dishes and prices organized for review. They can correct names, prices and categories before publishing, without entering the whole menu by hand. That step keeps control over what guests will ultimately see.

In the editor, changes appear next to a mobile preview to evaluate photos, colors and contact details in context. Public actions appear only when the information needed to use them exists, avoiding dead-end buttons during setup.

The dashboard brings together tasks such as sharing the link, completing the setup and following the day’s reservations. Metrics distinguish visits, menu opens, dishes viewed and booking requests.

This data shows which parts of the page generate interest. Its scope is kept separate from sales and actual visits: a view or a request does not, on its own, confirm an occupied table.