Alexander McQueen
E-commerce with integrated brand storytelling
Company
AKQA Amsterdam
brief
idea
process
execution
Role
Area
ACD
E-commerce
Design system
Branding
Scope
Full rebrand of all e-commerce pages, collection & runway archive and immersive brand storytelling
Create a state-of-the-art e-commerce experience with integrated brand storytelling at every step of the journey
insight
“Remove the logo and it could be any brand’s website”
This frank quote by Alexander McQueen’s CMO summarised the biggest challenge with the website: it lacked personality and felt misaligned with the innovative ways the brand presents itself on the runway, in its stores and its cachet in the world of high-end fashion.
The diluted expression of the brand and outdated design were the result of an attempt to preserve the legacy of the house’s much beloved former creative director and founder: Lee McQueen.
Our Soul in
Every Cut
A vision born from the very fabric of the fashion house and its dedication to craft, creativity and innovation, now applied to the e-commerce experience. By blending storytelling with industry best practices, we aimed to create a memorable experience that would make a statement in the luxury fashion industry.
Our biggest challenge was to seamlessly blend heritage and future, to respect and preserve the brand’s past while welcoming in the inevitable change brought by the reinvention of the house with each collection and runway show.
A 5-week North Star phase
Starting point was full brand immersion, absorbing everything there is to know about the house through its runway shows, documentaries, exhibitions and blogs.
Key themes, motives and other unique features of the brand’s DNA are woven into the fully rebranded design system, language and interactions. A first iteration of Our Soul In Every Cut came to live through experimentation in key areas: the homepage, collection pages, product detail pages and editorial pages.
An in-person show & tell with Sarah Burton
After presenting the North Star to Sarah Burton in-person, the team executed the vision in eight, 2-week sprints.
The first sprints focussed on further establishing the new design system, every pixel infused with the house’s unique DNA and history.
Each sprint was split into a low-fidelity and high-fidelity week, the former to concept a range of executions and the latter to produce detailed design for all touch points: mobile, desktop and tablet. Development demos at the end of each sprint served as a handover to the Kering development team.
