Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about what we do, what it costs and how we work. If your question is not here, ask us.
What does Luminous Industries do?
We translate complex ideas into brands and digital experiences people care about and engage with. That means branding and identity, website design, and UX design for complex sites and software. We work with organisations whose work is genuinely hard to explain, usually because they are too close to it, and our job is to find the version a stranger can understand and build everything around it.
What is a brand audit?
A brand audit is an independent assessment of the gap between what you say you are and what your materials actually communicate. It takes ten working days and costs £2,950. You get a written report, a call to talk it through, and a ranked list of what to fix first and what can wait. If you go on to commission the work, the cost comes off the project.
What is a UX audit?
A UX audit is a structured review of your website that identifies where visitors lose the thread, what they skip, and which parts are costing you enquiries. It takes ten working days and costs £1,950. It ends with a call and a ranked list of fixes, and it finishes on a short brand section, because how a site looks affects whether people trust it before they read a word. The cost comes off the project if you go further.
Should I start with a brand audit or a UX audit?
Start with the UX audit if your website is the thing worrying you, and the brand audit if the problem is how you come across everywhere. Most organisations know which one it is as soon as they are asked. If both apply, the two together are £4,450 rather than £4,900.
Not sure which you need? Take the free Clear or Cloudy check
Do you only work with museums and charities?
No. Over 25 years of working with high-profile organisations, we have delivered for clients across many sectors, including heritage attractions, life sciences, social impact and ethical health and beauty. Their common stance is that they all actively strive to do good in the world. What connects the work is the difficulty, not the sector.
How do you work with a client?
We take the time to understand complex work and concepts before working closely with the organisation to reveal why their ideal clients should care about them specifically. You are in the process from the start, as the subject matter expert on your own work. Together we create a solution that tells your story in a way your ideal customers can believe in and engage with.
Will you replace our existing brand?
Not unless that turns out to be the right answer. Most of our work is evolution rather than reinvention, because organisations usually have real equity in what they already have. On one recent project we interviewed the client's own customers before touching the identity, and their answers set the boundary between what to protect and what to change.
Do you handle accessibility?
Yes, and we treat it as part of the design rather than a check at the end. That includes testing colour palettes against WCAG contrast standards, keeping text off busy photographs, and using predictable layouts, which is particularly important for people who find processing information difficult. On a recent charity project we rebuilt the palette using deeper versions of the client's own colours so it passed AA and AAA without losing the brand.
Do you build websites as well as design them?
Yes. We design and build in Webflow, and we work alongside development partners when a project needs another platform. Either way you get a system your team can run, with content managed through a CMS rather than by coming back to us for every change.
Where are you based?
We are based at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton and work with clients across the UK.
Still have questions?
Send yours over and you will get a straight answer rather than a sales call.