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of the house's entrance and advancing towards the screen while welcom-
ing the website visitor to their house and wishing them an enjoyable stay,
all with the background of especially composed music that enhances the lux-
emosphere. A tour of the “house” reveals additional rooms, libraries, archives,
design studios and even the room that acts as a “
parfumerie
” where the brand's
fragrance is presented in a boudoir-like setting. Each door that opens is a
clandestine discovery in an environment that is driven by experience through
motion, strong visuals, sound and a unique luxemosphere. Although there is
no e-commerce on this website, the originality of the design concept, exacti-
tude of the virtual brand interpretation and richness of the luxemosphere all
add up to the exceptional brand experience. Other brands that have attempted
to create a concept based on a virtual 3-D house with several rooms are Rémy
Martin, through its social network, GetInteresting.Com, although the experi-
ence provided on the website is less seamless; and Mauboussin, whose linear
image display of multiple products on multiple pages integrated on a single
screen calls to mind an attempt at reproducing Microsoft Vista's advert images.
The constantly changing sounds and design ideas upon clicking on a new page
don't help matters either. As mentioned earlier in the chapter, Christian Lacroix
also took a bold step (in line with the brand's spirit) when it created a virtual
fantasyland dedicated to its special collaboration for La Redoute. However, the
downside is that the brand's main website itself was forgotten in this tide of
innovation, leading to an inconsistency in the virtual brand image.
Although there is no magic formula to identify the right or wrong design
concept for every luxury brand, when choosing a design concept, the follow-
ing principles should be used as a guide:
1. Keep it simple but rich. There is no theory that stipulates that when
it comes to creating luxury websites, the more complicated, the more
luxurious. A look at LuxuryCulture.com (Figure 4.18) will underline that
online superiority may be achieved through simplicity and sleekness. And
when I discussed the Viktor & Rolf website earlier, did I mention how
complicated it was? I don't think so.
2. Avoid having a black background color except if black is a part of your
brand's signature colors. And no, black doesn't automatically mean lux-
ury, online or offline.
3. Don't fall under the pressure of having a home page in the conventional
sense of creating a separate page. A home page may not be necessary in
all cases and, depending on your design concept, it could be skipped. Take
a look at Love.Cartier.Com and you'll understand why the home page is
not obliged to be a separate page.
4. Ensure that the website's concept is coherent on all pages and that, upon
entering different sections and sub-sections, the visitor to the website does
not feel that they are visiting a different website. Anyone who has visited
Chanel.com lately will understand what I mean.