Case study — Photography Collective
Lumen Studios: the build that paid for itself.
Lumen Studios came to us as photography collective operators in Auckland, NZ with a problem that was costing them weekly. The program below is what moved their headline number: sold out season bookings.
Fig. 01 — Portfolio DesignAuckland, NZ
The challenge
The product worked beautifully and looked confusing: users completed flows but reported distrust, support answered 'where do I find' questions the interface should have obviated.
Design debt had compounded quietly — eight button styles, six greys, and empty states that read like error messages.
The approach
Discovery started with users, not artboards: session replays, support-ticket archaeology and five moderated tests to find where trust leaked and hierarchy failed.
We rebuilt the interface on a tokenised system — one type ramp, three elevations, one interaction language — then validated with the same tests, measuring completion and confidence side by side.
Rollout covered every surface customers actually touch — site, product UI, email, documents, social — sequenced so the launch felt like an upgrade, not a costume change.
- Logo suite, palette, typography and imagery rules as a system file
- Full-state design: empty, error, loading and long-content variants
- Brand guidelines a stranger could ship on-brand assets from
- Two structured revision rounds per milestone
The results
The guidelines file alone changed how our whole company ships — nobody asks which blue anymore.Sara Whitfield — Founder, Lumen Studios
The gallery
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Your metric. Our move.
Fixed quotes in 48 hours. Senior team only. Zero hand-offs between disciplines.