"Layout, light, storage, colour and furniture, as one scheme." Then "You have good furniture in the wrong places."
LUX Studio
A five-page website for a private interior design studio in Marylebone. Homeowners can see how Elena Marlow plans a home, then write to her with a few photographs.
LUX plans homes across the UK, from a single room to the whole house. Homeowners need to see how Elena thinks before they trust her with theirs.
The challenge
A whole-home commission is a large investment, and often a first. Twelve samples are on the table and none of them agree with the light. The electrician wants the lighting plan by Friday and nobody has decided where the bed goes.
- 01A homeowner looking at finished rooms still cannot tell how the designer would plan theirs, or what the work involves.
- 02They are afraid of buying a sofa that does not fit, or of a builder standing idle while the finishes are still undecided.
- 03So the site gives the design studies, Elena and her services a page each.
Can they fix it without starting again?
On the home page"You get a plan every later choice follows, so nothing is bought twice."
How much of the work can they take on?
On the home pageEach service opens with who it is for: "a project you would rather hand over whole", "a layout that has never sat right", "the point where the builder needs answers".
Who will be drawing my plan?
On the home pageElena herself. "Nobody else draws your layout, lighting, colour, materials or furniture, so nothing gets lost between hands."
The strategy
The home page was planned in grey first, section by section, with the real words in place before a colour or a photograph was chosen.
- 01Each section answers a question a homeowner asks, and its heading gives the answer.
- 02The phone layout was drawn alongside the desktop, with the stacking order of every row marked.
- 03The finished page keeps the order of the plan, section for section.
The site in the order a client meets it. Each page opens on its own subject, so the services and the studies have pages of their own.
Scroll to move through the site
Elena introduces herself and sets out the four rules she keeps on every job.
Each service opens with who it suits, then lists what you get.
A sitting room in Hampstead, a bedroom in Bath, a bathroom in Marylebone, a kitchen in the Cotswolds and a studio in Edinburgh, each with their brief, what we drew and what we did.
The form asks where the home is, which rooms and how far along the work is, and Elena replies with where she would begin.
Art direction
The palette of forest green, plum, terracotta, olive and paper comes from the materials in the rooms.
ForestPlumTerracottaOlivePaper
TypeHeadings are set in Bodoni Moda, as an interiors magazine would set them.
Instrument Sans carries the navigation, the service descriptions and the enquiry form.
PhotographyEach room opens wide, then moves in close.
The wide view shows the layout. The details beside it carry captions such as "Task and ambient lighting layers" and "Materials sampled in your own daylight".
CaptionsThe photographs carry captions in small capitals.
Two from the Studio page: "Materials chosen for the home and how hard it is used" and "Colour with warmth, depth and a job to do".
GroundsThe grounds alternate between forest, paper, plum and terracotta.
Home, Studio, Services and Design Studies each end on a terracotta panel with a question, such as "So, what is not working at home?"
Brand identity
The same identity appears on the campaign posters, the studio folio and the finishes schedule.
Copywriting
The copy is written in the words designers use with their clients, and talks to the homeowner as "you".
You have good furniture in the wrong places.
The heading of the problem section on the home page. The next line: "The sofa is good, but where it sits leaves a dead corner."
None of this means you have bad taste. The decisions came in the wrong order.
Further down the problem section, before any service is listed. It ends: "and we put that right first."
Elena Marlow draws your plan herself.
The heading beside Elena's photograph. Under it: "Nobody else draws your layout, lighting, colour, materials or furniture, so nothing gets lost between hands."
Build and testing
- 01On a phone, the photographs and their descriptions stay in reading order.
- 02The enquiry asks for drawings only if a homeowner has them: "You do not need drawings or decisions yet."
- 03Built in Elementor, so Elena can add a new design study without calling a developer.
Elena's introduction on a laptop and a phone: her photograph first, then her own words.
The result
A homeowner can look through the studies, compare the services and read about Elena on pages of their own. Each of those pages ends with a link to write to her.
The same website would suit
- Architects
- Interior designers
- Garden designers
- Builders and renovation firms
- Kitchen studios
- Furniture makers
- Lighting designers
- Property developers
Planning a website like this one?
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