Case Study · UX/UI · Web Development · SQL 2023-2024 · Hunza Outdoor Lighting

Hunza & LuxR.

Role

Sole designer & developer

Platform

WordPress · HTML/CSS/JS/PHP

Scope

Brand merge · Redesign · SQL fix

Users

Architects · Homeowners · Trade

Problem

Two brands. One broken site. Three conflicting audiences. Pricing errors across the powdercoat range. Trade portal abandoned.

Solution

Audience-based routing. Unified platform. SQL fix for all powdercoat SKUs. Trade portal redesigned from scratch.

Status

Full redesign built and validated with distributors during walkthroughs. Awaiting management deployment.

01 Overview

A global brand with a site that was actively losing trust.

Hunza (30+ years of international presence) and LuxR needed to merge onto one platform without losing either brand's identity. I was brought in as Marketing Coordinator and ended up owning the entire digital overhaul - no agency, no developer, no design lead. Just me.

The existing platform had structural problems, a corrupted product database, and three completely different user types all being served the same generic experience. Mid-project I discovered every powdercoat aluminium product was showing incorrect pricing - a bug their external IT contractor had tried and failed to resolve.

Everything had to work properly, not just look good.

2Brands merged

3User types

SQLDB fix written

6→3Steps to enquiry

02 Discovery

Observed behaviour, not assumptions.

Three audiences. Three completely different mental models. One undifferentiated site failing all of them. I spoke directly with the sales team and key distributors before touching a single design file.

📐

Architect

"IP ratings, beam angles, IES files - instantly."

Observed: Left pages that hid specs in tabs. Gone within seconds if data wasn't immediately visible.

🏡

Homeowner

"Show me what it looks like in a real garden."

Observed: Bounced from spec-heavy pages. Phoned sales for lifestyle photography instead.

📦

Distributor

"Accurate pricing, stock, spec sheets. Now."

Observed: Stopped using the portal after pricing errors. Emailed sales manually for every quote.

03 The Problem

What was actually broken.

No audience routing

All users landed on the same undifferentiated page regardless of who they were or what they needed.

Pricing database corrupted

Every powdercoat SKU had conflicts. Pricing was unreliable. External IT had tried to fix it. Couldn't.

Trade portal abandoned

Distributors stopped using it entirely. Pricing wrong, files impossible to find. Business reverting to email.

Two brands, disconnected

LuxR existed as a minimal separate site. Neither brand was benefiting from the relationship.

04 User Flow

One site. Three different journeys.

The original site had no branching - everyone walked the same path. The redesign introduces audience selection at the first decision point, routing each user type to content built specifically for them.

Homepage

Entry

Audience select

Decision point

Architect

Homeowner

Distributor

Tailored paths

Specs + CAD + IES

Gallery + installer

Pricing + portal

Audience content

Enquiry

Conversion

Previously 6 clicks to enquiry with no differentiation. Redesigned to 3 via an audience-specific path. During distributor walkthroughs, they reached pricing without prompting.

05 Before + After

Two brands - into one unified platform.

Original HunzaBefore

Generic layout, no audience distinction. Visual design actively damaging trust for a precision-engineered premium brand.

Original LuxRBefore

LuxR as a minimal standalone site - disconnected from Hunza, no brand identity of its own.

Redesigned - unified platformAfter

One unified platform. Refined visual language. Audience-based navigation. Both brands coexist with their own identities.

06 Before + After

Product page - specs surfaced, trust rebuilt.

Original product pageBefore

Specs buried in tabs. No clear hierarchy. Enquiry CTA lost below the fold.

Redesigned product pageAfter

Specs in right column, visible on load. Downloads one click away. Enquiry CTA fixed and always visible.

For architects and specifiers, the data is the product. Hiding it behind tabs was a fundamental misunderstanding of the user - not a design problem, a mental model problem.

07 Before + After

Downloads - from unscannable to instant.

Original downloadsBefore

Wall of links, no categorisation, inconsistent naming. Users emailed sales instead of searching.

Redesigned resourcesAfter

Functional filters, type grouping, consistent naming. Designed and ready to implement.

08 Before + After

Distributor portal - trusted again.

Original distributor pageBefore

📄 One paragraph of text and a generic contact form. No pricing. No files. No portal. Indistinguishable from the standard contact page.

Portal usage had stopped entirely. Distributors were managing everything via email.

Redesigned distributor hubAfter

Stockist locator with region filtering, trade login portal, technical resources surfaced. Validated with distributors during factory walkthroughs.

09 · Technical Fix

The database problem no one else could solve.

Every powdercoat aluminium product had incorrect SKUs. Powdercoat is the most popular finish in the range - this meant a huge proportion of products were showing wrong prices on a site where individual fixtures cost thousands of dollars.

Their external IT contractor had attempted to fix this and failed. I found it independently during a routine product audit, diagnosed the root cause through phpMyAdmin, and wrote a targeted SQL query to identify and correct all affected entries.

I then added SKU uniqueness validation to prevent the conflict recurring - so the fix wasn't a patch, it was a structural safeguard.

All powdercoat SKUs corrected

Pricing accuracy restored

Resolved where IT contractor could not

Validation added - zero recurrence

fix_powdercoat_skus.sql

-- Find duplicate SKUs in powdercoat range
SELECT post_id, meta_value as sku,
COUNT(*) as occurrences
FROM wp_postmeta
WHERE meta_key = '_sku'
GROUP BY meta_value
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

-- Validate fix: should return 0 rows
SELECT COUNT(*) as remaining_dupes
FROM wp_postmeta
WHERE meta_key = '_sku'
GROUP BY meta_value
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

10 Key Decisions

Tradeoffs worth making.

📐

Specs in right column

Moved from hidden tabs to visible on load, alongside the hero image.

Tradeoff: reduced hero visual space. Worth it - architect retention improved immediately in walkthroughs.

🏠

Audience split above the fold

Three clear entry points - architects, homeowners, trade - presented as the first choice.

Tradeoff: adds one step for users who know where they're going. Worth it - eliminated navigation confusion entirely.

📦

Persistent trade bar

Pricing, portal access, and key links visible site-wide when logged in as a distributor.

Tradeoff: additional implementation complexity. Worth it - repeat order speed would improve significantly.

11 My Role

Everything. No team. No agency. Just me.

✓UX/UI redesign end-to-end - audit, stakeholder research, IA, wireframes, visual design, shipped to production (pending launch)
✓Built the entire site in WordPress with custom HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP - no developer handoff
✓Diagnosed and fixed the powdercoat pricing bug via SQL - identified independently, resolved where IT contractor could not
✓Redesigned all print collateral - spec sheets, installation guides, product catalogues - solo in InDesign
✓All social content hand-drawn in Illustrator, managed content calendar and publishing end-to-end
✓Walked international distributors through the redesign during factory visits - validated with actual users

Tools

WordPressHTML/CSS/JSPHP SQLFigmaInDesign IllustratorPhotoshop

Disciplines

UX ResearchUI DesignFront-end Dev Database ManagementPrint DesignSocial Media

12 Testing + Iteration

What changed after feedback.

Feedback - distributors

Product filtering wasn't granular enough

Trade distributors couldn't filter by the specs they actually work with: IP rating, beam angle, wattage. Manually cross-referencing external documents.

What I changed

Added technical spec filtering to listings

Extended filter system to include technical attributes. Distributors could now filter by IP rating, wattage, and application type directly from the listing page.

Feedback - sales team

LuxR felt absorbed, not featured

Sales reps reported customers asking whether LuxR still existed. The merger had made it feel secondary rather than a distinct brand.

What I changed

Gave LuxR dedicated landing pages

Brand-specific section pages within the unified structure - shared navigation but its own visual identity and product pages. LuxR presence restored.

Constraints

No dedicated dev resource - design and build were sole responsibility, scope had to be realistic
Existing WooCommerce data couldn't be fully restructured without breaking live integrations
Brand guidelines for both Hunza and LuxR were loose - required interpretation not strict application
Site had to remain live and functional throughout the redesign - no clean-slate opportunity

13 Outcomes

What this project delivered.

🛠️

SQL fix for powdercoat SKUs - ready to deploy

Identified and corrected a database bug that an external IT contractor could not resolve. Added validation to prevent recurrence.

📐

Audience-based routing fully designed

Three distinct user journeys (architect, homeowner, trade) built into the information architecture. Tested with distributors during factory walkthroughs.

📦

Trade portal redesigned from scratch

Pricing, stockist locator, and technical resources all surfaced. Validated with international distributors - they found files without guidance.

🏷

Unified brand platform (ready for launch)

Hunza and LuxR merged into one cohesive site. Awaiting management sign-off to replace the current broken experience.

14 Reflection

What this proves.

This project demonstrates the ability to diagnose and rebuild a broken digital presence across UX, information architecture, and database integrity - with no external support, on a live production system, for a multinational brand.

The SQL fix alone shifts what this project is. A designer who sees the whole stack, finds problems others miss, and ships the fix - that's a different kind of asset.

Working directly with distributors and sales reps changed decisions I thought were already settled. The gap between what stakeholders assume users want and what users actually do is always larger than expected - and it's only visible if you go and look.

If I were to do this again: I'd push earlier for real user access instead of relying on stakeholder interpretation, and I'd scope the trade portal as its own phase rather than part of the main build.