Luz Gémea
A one-page website for a fashion and beauty studio in Lisbon that shoots campaign photographs and films on the same set. Brands see the work first, then how a shoot runs, and send one WhatsApp message to plan theirs.
Luz Gémea is a campaign studio brand I created, run by a director who lit feature films before he lit fashion. The website had to sell the studio with its pictures, then answer what a brand asks before it books.
The challenge
A fashion label spends a year on a collection, then trusts its launch to a studio. Before it sends a brief, it wants to see the work and know what happens on the day.
- 01A grid of good photos does not tell a brand who directs the shoot, how soon the pictures arrive or who owns them afterwards.
- 02Brand managers compare studios on the campaigns, on whether the films match the photographs, on the timings, on usage rights and on how a date is held.
- 03I planned the page around the name. Luz Gémea means twin light: the same crew lights the photographs and the films, so a campaign looks like one shoot. Each section shows or explains that, and the page ends at one message to the studio.
Is the work good enough for our label?
Answered byCampaigns people stopped for. Six campaigns from six cities, each with a large photograph and two lines on what the brand wanted. Under Rouge, Paris: the shop windows and the website now match.
Will the films look like the photographs?
Answered byYour campaign, in motion. Four short films, filmed on the same days as the photographs. Further down, Duarte, the founder, says it in one line: “When the film and the photographs look like two different shoots, the customer feels it before she can say why.”
What happens after our first call?
Answered byFrom your first call to the final file. Four steps, each with its own photo: the treatment within a week, the set, the shoot and delivery. First selects arrive within 48 hours, and the finished files within two weeks.
Who owns the pictures, and what does it cost?
Answered byWhat brands ask first. Five questions, from travel to usage rights. The price answer says what the price depends on, the days, the crew and the usage, and asks for the brief and the launch date.
One long page, in the order a brand manager asks: the work, the films, the shoot and the studio.
Scroll to move through the page
Design decisions
Each decision came from the name, twin light, or from the campaign photographs.
Colours taken from the campaigns
The page is a warm sand with near-black text. The strong colours come from the campaign photos: a deep red for every button, cobalt blue for the shoot, violet for the studio story and a bright yellow for the last message. Each strong colour gets a whole section, so it never fights a photograph.
SandStoneInkRedYellow
One typeface, two weights
Everything is set in Switzer. Headings mix a thin weight with a bold one, as in “Your campaign, in motion”, so the bold words are read first. The studio name on the first screen is sized to fill the width of any screen, so no letter is ever cut.
Three campaigns on the first screen
The first screen puts three campaigns side by side, so a visitor sees the range of the studio before reading a word. The photos drift slowly as the page scrolls.
A photo that follows the pointer
On a computer, each service in the list shows a photo of that kind of work beside the pointer as it moves down the list. On phones, the list stays plain and quick to read.
Words that fill in as you read
Duarte’s note near the top of the page starts pale and darkens word by word as the visitor scrolls. The bold end, “ask where to buy it”, is the last thing to fill in.
Steps that change the picture
In “From your first call to the final file”, the photo beside the steps changes from the treatment to the set, the shoot and delivery. Films play only while they are on screen, and if a phone or computer is set to reduce motion, everything shows at once without animation.
Copy a brand can check
48 hours to the first selects, two weeks to the finished files, 31 countries and 12 campaigns a year. The price question gets a straight answer about what the price depends on. Words such as “iconic” and “world-class” were left out, and so were awards the studio does not have.
One message, one place
“Plan a campaign” sits in the header and opens one WhatsApp message to the studio, with no long form to fill in. Photographers who only want the empty studio for a day have their own button, “Ask about a date”.
Built by hand
Built by hand in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with motion that follows the scroll. On phones, the four films sit in a row you swipe, and the menu opens over the page.
The result
Brand managers see six campaigns and four films before they read about a price. Then they learn who directs the shoot and when the files arrive, and they message the studio with their launch date.
The same website would suit
- Art directors
- Photographers and film-makers
- Creative and production studios
- Fashion and beauty brands
- Model and talent agencies
- Interior and architecture studios
Planning a website for your studio?
Send what your studio makes, who it works for and when the website has to be live. You’ll hear back within two business days.