Tortina started with a simple observation: Melbourne has a genuine appetite for authentic Italian baking, but most delivery apps feel generic, rushed, and disconnected from the craft behind the product. The opportunity was to design something that felt as considered as the food itself.
The concept is a direct-to-consumer app for a Melbourne-based Italian bakery, built around two distinct users: Sarah, a gift giver who values elegance and authenticity, and Ethan, a time-poor professional who needs quality without friction. Both needed the same product to work very differently for them.
The visual identity and the product were designed together, each informing the other. The brand needed to carry the warmth of Italian craft without feeling nostalgic or decorative, and every visual decision was tested against real product moments: an onboarding screen, a product page, a gift delivery confirmation. The identity uses a custom logotype with the shape of a canestrelli, one of Italy's most iconic shortbread cookies, as the signature motif, a palette built around deep teal and warm yellow, and a tone that is friendly without being performative. From app icon to packaging, every element uses the same visual language.
The product design followed the users, not generic e-commerce patterns. The onboarding communicates the bakery's story before asking for anything. The home screen personalises immediately. The category and product screens prioritise food photography and dietary information, because for this audience trust is built through transparency, not marketing copy.
The design system documents components, states, navigation patterns, and dietary filters, built to scale as the product grows.
Reflections
Designing brand and product in parallel meant every visual decision had to earn its place in a real user moment, not just look right in isolation. The clearest tension that emerged is between Sarah and Ethan. Gifting requires care and personalisation, speed ordering requires zero friction. Designing one flow that serves both without compromising either is the problem I'd want to stress-test with real users. Personalisation on the home screen is a start, but how the gifting flow handles Ethan's impatience is where the real design work lives.