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in the relationship between a luxury brand and its public, therefore sensory
e-experience cannot be over emphasized. Targeting the eyes online is like
taking a shot of energy drink which wears out sooner or later, but focusing
on the mind and the senses that drive it ensures that what people will remem-
ber long after the collections and visuals have changed is the experience they
“lived” on the website.
Figure 4.14 gives you a visual idea of the luxemosphere concept.
The
luxemos-
phere
tactics
The
human
senses
The luxury
website
The web
elements
The client
Figure 4.14
The luxemosphere Internet strategy model
Designing the “winning” luxury website
I'm pretty sure that many people reading these lines may concede that devel-
oping a website is fairly easy and doesn't necessarily require an extensive
section in a topic. After all, there are millions of websites existing in cyber-
space and this wouldn't be so if website development were that compli-
cated. This means that, generally, anyone with a fraction of a brain can read
through
Web Design for Dummies
and manage to throw a few web pages
together. But “developing” a website is not the same as “creating” a website.
Neither is “building” a website the same as creating one. It is also not only
about design and navigation; nor is it about only technology (flash or html?)
and search-engine optimization. Nor only about developing an e-boutique
and ensuring that sales can be made in as many currencies as possible. It is,
rather, about giving life to a luxury brand in the virtual space through a bal-
anced integration of all of the above-mentioned web features, and also ensur-
ing that these bounce off solidly on everything that the brand represents.
When you “create” a website, particularly a website that represents a luxury
brand, there is so much more to think about than just putting up a few pages
with nice photos and text in as many languages as possible.
Creating a luxury website is like embarking on a journey in much the
same way that visiting a luxury website should be a journey of pleasur-
able discovery. The journey of luxury website creation (please notice that
I haven't used the words “design” or “development”) is multi-faceted. It
comprises design and creativity, technical competence, business and mar-
keting know-how, digital media expertise and a thorough understanding of
the world of luxury and, particularly, the universe of the brand in question.
