Japanese restaurant and arcade in Washington DC. Full concept and art direction, from first screen to launch.
- Client
- ĀKĒDO DC LLC
- Place
- Washington DC, USA
- Year
- 2026
- Role
- Art direction, concept, design, build, deployment
- Built with
- Next.js 16 · React 19 · Lottie · Tailwind · Vercel
ĀKĒDŌ holds two propositions at one address: a Japanese kitchen on one side, an arcade floor on the other. The site had to carry both without sacrificing either, appetising without being tame, playful without turning childish.
Art direction led end to end: cream ground, electric blue, condensed capitals and tight crops on the food. Animations run in Lottie rather than approximated in CSS, which keeps the motion precise without weighing the page down. Menus are data driven, so the team changes them without touching code.
A web identity that stands next to the other names on the block, served statically, and updated by the team on their own.