London Youth Gateway
London Youth Gateway is a critical pan-London referral pathway for young people aged 18–25 facing homelessness or housing instability. Delivered by a specialist partnership of providers, the initiative ensures that young people can access support quickly without the trauma of retelling their story across multiple agencies.
Studio Lutalica partnered with the London Youth Gateway team to create a cohesive visual identity and digital presence that feels joined-up, trustworthy, and radically easy to navigate.
Project Team
Branding and Collateral: Zoe Tang
The Challenge
Multi-partner programs often suffer from fragmented branding, which can erode trust for users in crisis.
London Youth Gateway required a recognisable identity that could hold the partnership together across 33 London boroughs. Furthermore, the digital experience had to work under extreme constraints: many visitors are in moments of high stress, accessing the site via mobile with limited privacy or data.
Our challenge was to architect a calm design system—minimising noise and stimulation to support neurodivergent users and those experiencing the cognitive load of housing instability. It needed to be a brand that immediately signals: you’re in the right place, and help is available.
What We Did
We began by grounding the work in London Youth Gateway’s purpose and partnership model: one pathway, many providers, with the young person at the centre. From there, we developed a visual system that is distinct and flexible—built to be used by the core team and the wider partner network.
To prioritise clarity, we designed a predictable, low-stimulation UI that reduces visual noise, allowing users to focus entirely on their next step. We engineered a high-contrast colour and typography system specifically for legibility in outdoor or low-light environments.
On the website, we re-engineered the information architecture to reduce friction for three distinct groups: young people in need, local authorities, and professional referral networks. By creating a minimal digital style with zero unnecessary animation, we ensured the platform remains performant on low-bandwidth connections and accessible to all.
Impact
London Youth Gateway now now possesses a unified digital infrastructure that reflects its scale as a pan-London authority—while staying inclusive, kind, and youth-centred.
By bringing multiple partners into one clear visual language, we have increased institutional trust and simplified the pathway to safety—whether that’s getting help directly, sharing the pathway with someone else, or confidently signposting through professional networks.
The accessibility-led, calm design approach has transformed a complex referral process into a manageable, kind experience. This project proves that inclusive design isn’t just an aesthetic choice—it’s a functional tool that supports the mental health and safety of young people in crisis across the capital.
The Lutalica team were a delight to work with. Their values of prioritising projects that support people from marginalised communities lined up perfectly with our values and approach. They really understood our client group and provided a great selection of design solutions for us to explore.
We’re really happy with our new brand and they were very hands on with helping us implement all of their beautiful design work, which made a real difference to the quality of our work. We’re looking forward to working with them in the future and we highly recommend them to anyone looking for modern, original design work.
– Polly Stephens, Communications & Campaigns Manager
