thoughtful, hand-crafted ux/ui & design made to delight.

serving your design needs with unlimited, no-commitment subscriptions, or pay-per-project options.

  • ui design

    seamlessly blending aesthetics with functionality to elevate user engagement and satisfaction

  • branding & identity

    carefully crafted brands from inception to application – in both digital and print.

  • user experience

    delivering meaningful and delightful digital experiences for real users in the real world.

  • product packaging

    Helping products shine on the shelf or online.

  • studio & lifestyle product photography

    making your products stand out on web and social

  • illustration & repeating patterns

    technical drawings, instructionals, book and brand illustration, and more

  • custom websites

    designed with ux in mind.

  • digital presentations

    helping your ideas shine

  • printed works

    brochures, flyers, collateral, and more

  • product design

    physical products from concept to prototype

  • tradeshow design

    booths, printed materials, & more

  • technical illustration

    Instructions, infographics, diagrams & the like

recent work

  • UI Design Example: Product Detail
  • Doxa Goalkeeping & Soccer Academy

lightful studio ethic

Our mission is to illuminate digital & physical landscapes with creativity, empathy, and plain good aesthetic. We bring over 20 years of combined design experience to our craft, and we design to bring life & delight.

What you want in a design partner:

  • Honesty, integrity, lightness

  • Easy-going

  • Capable

  • Gets the web, gets people

  • Developer-friendly

  • Detail obsessed

  • Good with words

  • Big picture thinking

Sam Spencer
UX/UI & Product Design

Katelyn Spencer
Graphic & Product Design, Photography

  • "Sam is an incredibly talented designer and experience creator. He is detail-oriented, is able to find and identify key problems, and is able to frame his solutions around those problems. He has a knack for asking probing questions that help to provide a deeper understanding of the customer problems allowing our team to empathize more deeply with our customers. It's a pleasure to work with Sam."

    Alex Schelhaas
    Product @ Syrup

  • “Lightful did a wonderful job with our logo, branding, and website parlors12.com. It was a sensational upgrade from our previous websites. In addition to her talent, Katelyn is wonderful responsive, diligent, and reasonably priced. I could not provide a higher recommendation.”

    Bill Chalmers
    President & CEO @ Cartessa Real Estate Company

  • "Lightful is so great to work with! They provide timely, creative design concepts, and they have a real eye for the details. We can always count on a thorough editing process and a beautiful end product."

    Tracy G. - Owner @ Floral Ave Promo

  • "We have worked with Lightful on several projects. They have always provided quick turnaround and exceptional work. We will continue to work with them in the future to meet a variety of our clients needs."

    Brent H. @ Twisted Root Data Strategy

  • "I have worked with Katelyn on graphic design projects for a while now, and she is a graphic designer that just “gets it”. I don’t have to give a lot of direction, and every project comes out exactly how I envision. She also works within some of our tighter timelines, which is so appreciated. I can always rely on her!"

    Chelsea Y.
    Director of Creative Services @ Comfort Research

  • Every result that the Lightful team brings to me is eagerly expected. They are truly capable of turning my ordinary requests into extraordinary masterpieces! "

    Qiyi S. @ Pantone / X-Rite

  • “I have worked with Lightful on a variety of projects from office buildings in Michigan to vacation properties in Cabo San Lucas. They have been awesome to work with and we have gotten outstanding results from our branding and marketing materials to our websites and social media strategy. Additionally, they have helped us in achieving some operational efficiencies. We look to Katelyn and Sam as our consultants for most all of our investment and development projects and wouldn’t trade them for anyone!”

    Eric S. - Owner EDS Investent Properties

  • I worked with Sam closely for 2 years designing and building an interactive web app. During that time Sam demonstrated strong strategic thinking and product design work. He is always interested in the business value of each decision that needs to be made, and is sensitive to users' wants and needs. Sam is a deep thinker and does not leave any stone unturned - he is thoughtful and precise in his analysis, which made him an invaluable part of the team. He is a great teammate and a talented product designer, I'm grateful to have been able to work with him.

    Jared B.
    Developer @ Ministry Pass

lightful unlimited design subscription

Introducing our new design subscription service, the epitome of convenience and delight! Unlimited design requests, delivered quickly and efficiently for a flat monthly fee. Simply submit your request into our digital system and receive your designs! We’ll revise until you’re satisfied, then move on to your next project.

Access to two trustworthy, senior level designers for less than the price of one!

On-demand design without the hassle of hiring in-house

Most requests back in ~ 48 hours on average, Monday - Friday

Easy-peasy process, request digitally and receive!

Consistent, thoughtful, well-made design that you can trust

No obligation. Ask questions, check us out, see our process, and onboard if you’re ready. See our list of services and FAQs below.

lightful “lite” subscription

Love the subscription model, but don’t need unlimited? This option is great for businesses with occasional ux & design needs, and includes the same expert design support, tailored to your lighter needs. With a Lite plan, we will provide up to 10 hours of work for you per month.

Based on availability.
See our list of services below.

one -time branding & website

For businesses needing branding and simple website builds or refreshes, but not ongoing design needs. Perfect for start ups, new products, new companies, or established businesses looking for a professional refresh. Pricing is based on scope of branding and website build.

Based on availability.
See our list of services below.

pay-per-project

Not ready for a subscription service? Although our subscriptions are our best value and prioritized services, we understand that different businesses have different needs. Contact us to discuss your project(s) and receive a quote. If we have capacity, we would love to work with you.

Based on availability.
See our list of services below.

SaaS Design

SaaS Consulting

Pricing Strategy

Product Strategy

Product Design

UI Design

Web App Design

Feature Designs

Wireframes

Mockups

Concept Sketches

we can do some stuff…

User Flows

Service Blueprints

UX Audits

Heuristic Evaluations

Journey Maps

Card Sorts

Content Inventories

Usability Studies

User Interviews

Tree Testing

Information Architecture

Logos & Branding

Style Guides

Typography

Marketing Materials

Presentations/Slide Decks

Custom Illustrations

Business Cards

Email Templates

Social Media Graphics

Squarespace Websites

Packaging Design

Trade Show Materials

Infographics

Brochures & Stationary

Trend Reporting

Signage

Graphic design

Creative direction

Product photography

Lifestyle Photography

Fabric Print Design

Email us for more!

frequently asked questions

  • Good question! For starters, the annual cost of just one full-time designer can easily exceed $100,000 plus the cost of benefits. It can sometimes be hard to even find a good one that’s available.

    With our design subscription service, you get not just one, but access to two senior-level designers for less than the price of one! Together we bring over twenty years of experience to many design disciplines. Because of our team-of-two dynamic, you get the added benefit of our different areas of expertise in branding, graphic design and also user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design.

    Plus, bonus - there’s no headache of hiring.

  • Nope! Once you partner with us in a design subscription, you're able to add as many design requests to your queue as you'd like, and they will be delivered to you one by one. If you have any edits, we will continue to work on the same project until you are satisfied. Longer, more involved requests will naturally take longer to complete, but we pride ourselves in quality and efficiency, and you will be able to check the status of your projects at any time.

  • It really depends on the projects you send us. On average, many common requests are completed in 48 hours or less (Monday - Friday). More complex requests can take longer. We will communicate with you along the way to keep you updated on your projects, and we always keep your Trello board up to date so that you can see the status of your requests.

  • We primarily use Adobe Creative Suite, and Figma for designing. If you have a special request, let us know and we let you know if we are able to accommodate.

  • For subscribers, our simple-request process happens primarily in Trello. We will create a board to share with you for just your projects, and you can add collaborators that are able to add tasks and track our progress. It’s super simple, and we will walk you through it during onboarding.

  • Not a problem! We'll continue to revise the designs until you're 100% satisfied.

  • Currently our design subscriptions do not cover the following design work: 3D modeling, animation or animated graphics (GIFS, etc.), and videography.

    If you are paying per project, we may be able to take these projects separately (depending on availability) or match you with one of our high-quality design partners that can help you with your design needs.

    We do include complete wireframes, page layouts, mock ups, and UI in addition to our other included services. We are also able to build custom websites for clients in a subscription plan using Squarespace, but depending on the scope and size of the site, may take a varying amount of time, and you may opt to have us quote you a website on a project basis instead.

    See our list of services to check out what else we offer.

  • No worries, you still belong here! We offer branding packages and pay-per-project options in addition to our subscriptions.

    If you have more than one but less than a bunch of work needed, you might consider our Lightful Lite Subscription for an ongoing up to 10 hours of work per month.

  • Due to the high quality nature of the work, there will be no refunds offered.

set up a free call, and see if lightful is right for you.

There’s no commitment or pressure, just friendly information.

get in touch.

Fill out the form, or email us at hello@lightfuldesign.com