Matjoa House
Matjoa House
Designing a warm, photography forward Korean BBQ experience, from brand brief to finished site, primarily through AI prompting.
Visit websiteOverview
Matjoa House is an authentic Korean BBQ restaurant in the Tampa Bay area. The site had two jobs at once: make first-timers comfortable with tableside grilling, and make the food impossible to resist. This engagement is both an experience for customers and a study in building that experience primarily through AI prompting, translating a brand brief into layout, copy, and components, then refining it prompt by prompt.
The prompt approach
I started from the brand essence ("Matjoa" means "it tastes good") and a short list of goals: drive phone reservations, teach the Korean BBQ ritual, and build trust. From there I set a design direction (warm neutral palette, photography forward layout, subtle Korean language accents) and a page inventory: Home, Menu, How It Works, Our Story, Gallery, Press, and Contact. That direction became the brief every prompt was generated against.
Iteration & refinement
From first pass generations I worked toward a coherent product: a step by step "How It Works" module that walks newcomers through choosing meats, banchan, grilling, and wrapping; a bilingual menu with clear hierarchy and right aligned pricing; a filterable gallery; and press and testimonial cards for credibility. Each pass tightened consistency across components, responsive behavior, and the tone of voice in the copy.
Outcome
The result is a polished, conversion oriented site: a clear "Call to Reserve" path, a first-timer friendly experience explainer, and photography that carries the brand. In practice that meant a seven-page site (Home, Menu, How It Works, Our Story, Gallery, Press, and Contact) designed and built end to end through AI prompting on Next.js and deployed on Vercel. As a prompting study, it mapped where AI accelerates the work (scaffolding, copy variants, repetitive components) and where human judgment still steers: information hierarchy, emotional tone, and knowing when to stop.
Year
2026
Role
Designer and builder, concept to launch via AI prompting
Disciplines
- Web Design
- AI Prompting Study
- Restaurant Brand
Tools
- AI Prompting
- Claude Code
- Next.js
- Vercel
