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ROLES: FOUNDER / CREATIVE DIRECTION / BRANDING / WEB+PRINT+UX DESIGN / PHOTOGRAPHY / COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

Tadaku is not just a web platform for cooking lessons, but a community for those with a great passion and curiosity for other cultures. We grew the service to hundreds of foreign hosts and thousands of guests in Japan, who share their love and passion for cooking and culture.

We built an online marketplace for guest users to browse and book sessions, and for hosts to register. We put a lot of energy into the host acquisition, onboarding and training processes.

To manage quick growth, it was imperative to know and deeply understand our customers, so we regularly carried out user testing and research, and quickly adapted the website to create the best possible user experience.

We had hosts join from every part of the globe, offering to share the beauty of their cuisines and cultures with Tokyo locals. I created a range of illustrations and branding materials to best promote what the hosts were offering.

I designed Tadaku’s brand identity from scratch, which carries a rough, sketchy style, to represent the "home-made" nature of Tadaku.

We hosted a number of regular community gatherings and parties to allow guests and hosts to interact, also giving us a further chance to learn about our customers. I designed a range of flyers, booklets, posters and other branded material along the way.

Photos by Said Karlsson
Building and fostering a community of people that brings joy to the lives of everyone involved was hugely fulfilling.