5 Designs to Implement When Working With Luxury Brands

While its true that some luxury brands have been slower to adapt to the digital sphere, its clear that a web presence is key to engaging customers at any level. No longer do high priced items have to be purchased solely in a traditional commerce setting, and it’s increasingly critical for a luxury brand to portray an accurate digital experiential representation of their brand, products and services offered.

The ‘luxury’ brand experience to many evokes a sense of exclusivity, impeccable customer service and of course an outstanding product offering. In a traditional setting, this is achieved through the environment and personnel. To achieve this feeling in a digital setting, the focus must be placed initially on the user interface design to achieve the optimal user experience.

Foremost, attention to detail is key. Providing as much information about the products and services offered at a granular level is paramount to the success of the site. Building s strategy based on detail and solid UI/UX principles, alongside the following key design implementations can deliver the ideal luxury brand experience.

Personalization

The ideal personalization plan can bring many benefits to both the user and brand it is supporting. Driving higher conversion, the content provided to the user is highly useful and aids in saving the user time in searching for products or information they need. By connecting platforms and algorithms to cookies (or stored data), and aligning it with a user profile  – similarities and assumptions can be made to identify what will be the ideal experience for a particular user.

Photography

Using outstanding, relevant photography is a non-negotiable aspect when working with a luxury brand. It’s advised to avoid stock photography and work with an experienced photographer that understands the brand. Hiring a professional has many benefits, but foremost being that the the photos will be specified to the brand experience. Whether taking photos of a product or the people within the organization, this creates the most tailored and authentic outcome.

Oversized Images

The hero or mega image, as the names imply, is usually the first thing that draws the eye on a web page and is most often placed at the background with text overlay. Choosing an image that is relevant to the brand or illuminates the lifestyle it creates is critical to ensuring a user connection. The use of an extra large image stretched across the entire page is a newer trend, however, the hero header has been around for some time. A hero header is the use of a hero image along with text and navigation at the top of a page.

Parallax

Parallax design is a method of design that uses multiple layers of graphics at different speeds to create an animation. As the user scrolls down with his mouse, the images come together to create an animated presentation. Some of the biggest luxury brands including Apple have used this design method to showcase their products with great results. The design method really makes a sales page interactive and allows luxury brands and companies to portray multiple aspects of their products to really wow potential customers.

Responsive

More than half of the commerce traffic today is done on mobile devices. The demand is clear and the consumers have spoken. Drop rates are rampant for sites that are not mobile-friendly equating to money left on the table for a business that has chosen not to optimize. The average consumer is highly technologically versed, and this means that a smaller screen will not suffice. Purchasing from multiple screens, the user demands a seamless experience which can only be delivered through Responsive Design. Delivering an optimal shopping experience with high quality imagery, zoom capabilities, scrolling and readability, responsive design brings a plethora of added value to the site owner through increased traffic and heightened conversion.