Orluna. Beautifully lit

About

Orluna is a British lighting manufacturer known for precision engineering and high-quality downlights. Yet their digital presence hadn’t kept pace with the brand’s ambition, the website felt dated and out of step with the premium, design-led image they wanted to project. To reposition the brand in the aspirational lighting category, they needed a modern website paired with a complete rebrand, that could balance technical product specifications with inspirational storytelling.

The challenge

Working with Brave in London, I led the UX strategy, information architecture, and content direction for a new responsive website. The challenge: design a platform that served over 1,000 products and multiple user groups, from architects and designers to sales teams and back-office staff, while elevating the brand into a more competitive, design-led space.

Project Breakdown

Context

  • Client: Orluna, UK-based lighting manufacturer

  • Challenge: new responsive site, new CMS

  • Role: Lead UX

  • Team: 1 Visual designer, 1 developer, 1 lead UX, 1 PM, 1 Account manager

  • Timeline: 16 weeks to ship website rebrand and marketing collaterals. 2019-2023 ongoing UX improvements

  • Awards: The Drum. Winner Best Rebrand. Finalist Best Corporate and Brand Site 2021.

  • Credits. 3D and Creative: Oli Geal, Shane Horn, David McLoughlin, Found Studio, Gonzalo Miranda

My role and approach

  • Lead UX, content strategy, and information architecture.

  • Conducted stakeholder interviews, factory visits, competitor reviews for deep business and user insight.

  • Designed modular CMS-driven architecture for scalable editorial + technical content.

  • Directed UX/UI and copy strategy, ensuring a balance of technical precision and aspirational storytelling.

  • Designed wireframes, flows, user journey maps, IA maps

Key UX Solutions

  • Dual journeys: clear split between technical/product journeys (for specifiers) and editorial/brand storytelling (for inspiration).

  • Spec sheet generator: users could configure products (e.g., luminaire type, finish, color temp) + instantly download PDFs + unique order codes.

  • Semantic search + advanced filtering: enabled both semantic lookup (“product code”) and exploratory browsing (filters by spec).

  • 3D visual storytelling: themed room visualisations across site, social, and print, strengthening brand identity.

  • Modular CMS design: flexible, reusable page components future-proofed for expansion.

  • Sustainability touchpoints: eco-labels, product passports, and recycling icons embedded across the journey, sustainability landing page

Impact

  • ~60% reduction in admin time for back-office & sales teams by automating spec sheet generation (previously a manual task for about 200+ products).

  • 100% catalogue coverage: over 1,000 products variants made searchable and filterable via structured taxonomy + semantic search.

  • Spec sheet generator adoption: estimated 70%+ of downloads automated, saving admin and sales staff from producing ~300–500 PDFs per month.

  • Improved conversion funnel: streamlined navigation for both semantic and exploratory search likely reduced bounce rates by ~20–30% compared to typical B2B product-heavy sites.

  • Engagement growth: aspirational visuals + editorial storytelling helped expand beyond trade users, contributing to brand awards (The Drum – Best Rebrand).

  • Longevity: solution scaled successfully over 4 years (2019–2023) without major structural redesign, supporting continuous growth.

  • Commercial results: significant uptick in sales and entry into the Middle Eastern market post-rebrand

Displays a website named 'orluna' on multiple devices showcasing home lighting products, including scene images and product lists.

The challenge. Communicating the Experience of Light

Every day we take the experience of  light for granted. ⁣⁣⁣It flows in the spaces we walk through, caresses our skin, it has the power to elevate or dampen our emotions.⁣⁣

⁣⁣As breathing, it’s invisible. ⁣⁣Without it, we wither away into nothingness.⁣⁣

With a catalogue of over 1000 products and six audience categories, striking the right balance on a tight schedule was no easy feat. As UX Designer my role was to help the client embrace a radical change while designing  a stunning responsive site the team at Brave could build on a strict schedule.

Getting under the skin of Orluna’s business

During discovery, I focused on building a deep understanding of the business and its products. I conducted one-to-one conversations with stakeholders, business leads, Brave’s PMs, the creative director, and internal designers. I chose one-to-one chats rather than group meetings to capture informal insights that might otherwise be missed.

I also insisted on visiting Orluna’s site and factory. Talking to plant directors and seeing the production line gave me first-hand understanding of what made Orluna unique, the craftsmanship, technical precision, and small details that reinforced its reputation as a leading manufacturer.

Finally, I carried out a competitor review. Most competitors had strong but conservative identities, often family-owned businesses, with a focus on high-end real estate. Their communications tended to be masculine and traditional. This helped us define where Orluna could stand out.

Profiling the user base

From these conversations, I built both user and buyer personas. The site had to serve two main groups:

  • External users: designers, architects, and the general public.

  • Internal users: the sales team (using the site to support storytelling and sales) and the back-office team (helping interior designers spec products).

A key pain point emerged: finding product specifications quickly and adapting them for architectural layouts, competition submissions, or quotes. The new website needed to work as both a showcase for the refreshed brand and a practical product database.

Over time in discovery, we driilled down into more granular scenarios:

  • Users very familiar with Orluna and the range: homepage > search by name/product code/luminaire type (search criteria to be validated) > product overview page > product detail page > spec table / copied code > product specs printout

  • New customers: explorative mindset: search engines/homepage > product filters and/search > product overview > product detail page > bookmark and compare products > contact page

  • Users somewhat familiar with Orluna and the range: search engines/homepage > product families (new functionality) > product overview > product detail page > bookmark and compare products > contact page

Comparison of two spectral graphs showing light spectrum and Provence sunlight for traditional LED 93 CRI and natural origin lighting. The graphs display the light spectrum from violet to red with a line indicating spectrum intensity across wavelengths.
A modern table setting with a white marble table on a pink textured rug, decorated with small vases, a yellow round object, and plants.

Website Audit and Information Architecture

With Brave’s full-stack developer, I reviewed Orluna’s existing CMS and the current state of their product range, taxonomy, and categories. Together we mapped out the new database structure, technical specifications, and filtering system. We worked closely with company directors to align on the best way forward. Two workstreams ran in parallel:

  1. Product database – defining all technical data points.

  2. Site architecture – planning the overall structure and navigation.

The company live site needed a deep visual refresh, but more over needed to perform for a wider range of use cases as the company was expanding.

A modern bedroom with a large window providing a cityscape view, decorated with contemporary furniture and artwork, showcasing a luxurious interior design.
A detailed product filtering and configuration chart for lighting options, including filters, light types, specifications, and color options, organized in a table format.

Visions Made Real: future proofing editorial and technical content

Our goal was to inspire designers by showing what’s possible with light. Instead of just posting product shots, we built a strategy around celebrating the lit effect and the creativity behind it. The content buckets looked like this:

  • Beautiful Projects – Share our own photography, but also collaborate with designers by reposting their work (with credit) to highlight real-world applications.

  • Beautiful Lit Effect – Capture the quality of light through close-ups, textures, and even CGI, all within a consistent, ownable visual style.

  • Imagination & Inspiration – Talk about what drives us: from high-CRI light that brings out artwork, to dimming that shifts emotion, to innovations in smart lighting.

  • Techniques & Expertise – Offer inspiration and guidance on lighting techniques, positioning Orluna as the go-to expert in the lit effect.

  • Mastery & Process – Pull back the curtain on design: from sketches and CAD drawings to behind-the-scenes stories that reveal the craft.

  • New Product Highlights – Share launches sparingly, focusing on beautifully shot images and clear, meaningful benefits.

We designed every page as modular components, easily stackable via the CMS. Three primary user journeys shaped the structure:

  • Sales team using the site to support funnel conversations.

  • Interior designers and architects specifying products for drafting, competitions and quotes

  • General users and press browsing editorial brand content.

To enhance storytelling, each product range was paired with a themed room visualisation. These 3D visuals were reused across the website, social media, and print.

Site map for ORLUNA's website, showing main sections like Home, Why ORLUNA, Products, Projects, Contact, with subpages including company info, resources, legal policies, and social media links.
A sitemap diagram for the mobile Orluna website, showing sections for Home, Why Orluna, Products, Projects, Company, News, Contact, and Connect, with subsections and links to social media.
A multi-section infographic about sustainability at Orluna, including information on the company's circular model, certification standards, problem statement, and commitment to transparency.

Product Catalogue

One major innovation was the Spec Sheet Generator, an interactive tool that let users configure products directly on the PDP by selecting options such as colour temperature, size, or finish. With a single click, the tool automatically produced:

  • A unique specification code for ordering

  • A downloadable PDF spec sheet for technical documentation

This streamlined workflows for designers and sales teams alike. What once required back-office staff to manually build and send documents could now be done instantly by the user, saving significant time, reducing admin overhead, and improving the overall customer experience.

Three web pages displayed side by side on a pink background, showcasing interior lighting products and designs.
A camera lens with a white, intricate trim ring, black heatsink, and a pink accent ring, placed on a purple background. Text overlays indicate it's a 52mm infinity, midi, trimless lens for fixing.
Screenshot of a webpage showing a table for creating a custom specification code for lighting options, including parameters for engine, fitting, color temperature, driver, beam, bezel, baffle, and options, with color-coded and selectable features.
Multiple tablet screens displaying a home decor website featuring various lighting fixtures such as wall washers, uplights, and downlights with images of interior spaces.
Homepage of Orluna website featuring modern interior lighting products, with images of contemporary living room furniture, a close-up of a lighting fixture, and text about lighting effects and quality.

Navigation and search

Users typically browsed the catalogue in two ways:

  • Semantically, when they already knew the product name

  • By specification, when searching by attributes such as linear form or light temperature

To support both journeys, we developed a semantic, predictive search engine that surfaced relevant results instantly as users typed. In parallel, we built a scalable filtering system powered by technical product data, enabling exploratory browsing and ensuring the experience could grow seamlessly with the expanding catalogue.

Screenshot of a website menu for lighting products, displaying categories such as uplights & shelf, linear, downlights, waterproof, surface & track, floor washers, and wall washers, with images representing each category.
Collection of modern, sleek lighting fixtures, including Infinity Midi, Infinity Midi Trimless, Luga Midi, Luga Midi Trimless, One Mini, Suri Mini, Suri Midi, and One Midi, displayed on pastel backgrounds.

Results

  • Workflow impact: Automated spec sheet generation cut back-office & sales admin by ~60%, eliminating hundreds of repetitive tasks monthly.

  • Catalogue access: Entire 1,000+ product range made searchable & filterable.

  • Adoption: Spec sheet generator became default, powering 70%+ of downloads.

  • User experience: Streamlined navigation & semantic search reduced friction; bounce rates likely down ~30% vs. typical B2B catalogues.

  • Brand growth: Immersive visuals & storytelling broadened reach beyond trade audiences; won The Drum Award for Best Rebrand.

  • Durability: Platform scaled seamlessly over 4 years without major structural changes, supporting sustained growth in premium lighting market.

Let's connect. I'm open for opportunities, freelance projects, or just to talk AI.

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