01 — Overview
The Challenge
Griham Organic — Taste of Home — is a homegrown food startup based in Budanilkantha, Kathmandu. They produce three core product lines: authentic handcrafted Achar (pickles) 🌶, freshly ground Masala (spice blends), and pure Shuddha Gheu 🐄 (clarified butter) — all made using traditional Nepali recipes and organically sourced ingredients. Despite having exceptional products, they had no digital presence whatsoever — no website, no online ordering, and no way to reach customers beyond their immediate neighbourhood.
I took this on as a self-initiated design project over 6 months starting March 2026, to build them a complete digital brand experience from the ground up.
🌐
No Website
Zero digital presence meant customers couldn't find them online, limiting reach to word-of-mouth only.
🛒
No Online Ordering
All orders were handled manually via phone or in-person, creating friction and limiting scalability.
🏔️
Geographic Limitation
Without a digital channel, reaching customers in other districts or international Nepali diaspora was impossible.
🤝
No Trust Signals
No platform to communicate their organic credentials, sourcing story, or customer reviews to build buyer confidence.
02 — Research
Competitor Analysis
I researched three key competitors in the Nepali online pickle market to understand the landscape, identify gaps, and find opportunities for Griham Organics to differentiate.
| Criteria | Nepal Achar | Aama Ko Achar | Achaar Ghar |
|---|
| Website Quality | Clean & Modern | Basic | Restaurant-focused |
| Direct Online Shop | Via Daraz only | Yes, direct cart | Third-party only |
| Mobile Experience | Good | Average | Poor |
| Brand Story | Weak | Strong | Strong |
| Organic Credentials | Mentioned | Partially | Not prominent |
| Checkout Process | Redirect to Daraz | Cluttered | No direct order |
| Customer Reviews | None visible | None visible | Yes, displayed |
Key Opportunity Identified
No competitor has a truly clean, mobile-first organic food experience covering multiple product lines. None prominently feature organic credentials on the homepage. This is the gap Griham Organic can own — a premium, organic-first, mobile-first brand experience with a frictionless multi-product ordering flow.
03 — User Research
User Personas
Based on the target market for organic artisan food products in Nepal, I defined two primary user personas to guide design decisions throughout the project.
Goals
Find authentic, organic Nepali food online. Wants quick, trustworthy ordering without hassle.
Frustrations
Complicated checkout processes, unclear ingredient sourcing, websites that don't work on mobile.
Behaviour
Discovers products through Instagram. Reads reviews before buying. Values clean design as a trust signal.
Health-consciousMobile-firstInstagram userOrganic buyer
Goals
Buy safe, preservative-free food for his family. Wants to know exactly where ingredients come from.
Frustrations
Websites with no sourcing information, brands that don't explain what's in their product, no delivery options.
Behaviour
Uses mobile for most browsing. Reads ingredient lists carefully. Willing to pay more for quality organic products.
Family-focusedQuality-drivenResearches before buyingPremium buyer
04 — Design Insights
What the Research Told Me
From the competitor analysis and user persona work, six clear design principles emerged that shaped every decision in the Griham Organics website design.
📱Mobile-First Always
Both personas primarily browse on mobile. Every layout decision starts from the smallest screen up.
🌿Lead with Organic
Organic credentials must be the first thing users see — not buried in an About page.
🛒Frictionless Ordering
Competitors make ordering complicated. Griham needed the simplest possible path to purchase.
📖Tell the Story
Buyers of artisan food want to know who made it and how. Brand story builds trust and justifies price.
⭐Social Proof First
Reviews and testimonials are critical for first-time food buyers. Make them visible and prominent.
🎨Earthy Visual Identity
The design language must feel organic, natural and artisan — not corporate or mass-produced.
05 — Design System
Colour Palette
The colour system was built around the organic, earthy identity of the brand. Deep forest green communicates nature and quality. Warm orange adds warmth and appetite appeal. Cream backgrounds feel artisan and premium.
Display / Headings — Playfair Display
Taste the Authentic Flavours of Nepal
Body / UI — DM Sans
Griham Organics brings you handcrafted artisan pickles made from organically grown ingredients sourced directly from the hills of Budanilkantha.
Labels / Tags — DM Sans Bold
100% Organic · Handcrafted in Nepal
06 — Key Design Decisions
Why I Designed It This Way
Every major design decision was backed by the research findings and user persona needs. Here are the six most important choices and the reasoning behind each.
01
Trust Bar Below Hero
Added a green trust bar immediately after the hero communicating organic, no-preservatives, women-farmer sourcing and eco-packaging — addressing Manish's key concern about ingredient transparency before he even scrolls.
02
Floating Info Cards on Hero
Three animated floating cards showing Organic Certified, 4.9 Rating and All Nepal Delivery give instant credibility to first-time visitors without requiring them to scroll down.
03
Product Filters
Added Mild, Spicy, Sweet and Premium filters to the product grid — allowing Sughosh to quickly find what he wants without browsing through everything. Reduces cognitive load.
04
4-Step Process Section
The Farm to Table process section directly addresses Manish's need to know exactly how food is made and where it comes from — building the trust needed to convert a first-time buyer.
05
Multiple Order Channels
Rather than forcing one ordering method, the CTA section offers WhatsApp, Daraz, Instagram DM and walk-in — meeting customers where they already are, especially important for a Nepali startup audience.
06
Earthy Rounded Design Language
Rounded cards, organic shapes, warm cream backgrounds and Playfair Display headings all communicate handcrafted artisan quality — the opposite of mass-produced corporate food brands.
07 — Reflections
What I Learned
This project taught me several important lessons about designing for small Nepali businesses and the local e-commerce landscape.
01
Nepali food startups need multiple ordering channels — WhatsApp and phone are still dominant in Nepal, and a website that only offers a cart checkout will lose a large portion of potential customers.02
Organic credentials must be visible immediately — health-conscious buyers make trust decisions in the first 3 seconds. If your organic story isn't in the hero, you've already lost them.03
For artisan food brands, brand story is a product feature — knowing who made it, how, and with what ingredients is part of what customers are paying for.04
Competitor analysis reveals opportunity — none of the three competitors had a clean mobile-first organic experience. That gap is exactly where Griham Organics can own the market.05
Designing a self-initiated project requires discipline — without a client brief, you must generate your own constraints through research. The competitor analysis and personas were essential to avoid designing without direction.
If This Goes Live — Next Steps
This design is ready to be developed and launched. Here's what would come next if Griham Organics decided to move forward with this website.
🧪User Testing
Test the design with 5 real users matching the personas to validate ordering flow and navigation assumptions.
💻Development
Build on a lightweight CMS like WordPress WooCommerce or a custom HTML/CSS site for easy content management.
📊Analytics & Iteration
Track conversion rates, most-viewed products and drop-off points to continuously improve the design after launch.
🫙 View Full Website Design