Richard Mille’s Luxury E-Commerce Site Captivates With Products And Storytelling

Richard Mille Brand Epitomizes Luxury

When you think of high-end watches, it's not Rolex or Cartier that come to mind. Instead, it's Richard Mille. 

The Swiss timepiece brand, which was founded in 1999, is the reigning king of luxury watches. With price points in the hundred-thousands (yes, you heard us right...) the brand truly caters to the one percent. 

Website Design Showcases Innovative Brand

Despite producing stunning and high-quality products, many luxury businesses don't invest in beautiful e-commerce websites. However, Richard Mille understands how important an e-commerce website design is in 2018. 

Upon landing on their homepage, users are greeted with intricate motion. A fluid, slow-moving video plays naturally in the background, displaying the products in detail with close-up shots. 

The logo design is displayed twice -- once more prominently in the middle of the screen, and again in the upper left-hand corner. The latter is placed next to a search icon and a hamburger navigation menu. The former is placed above a signature tagline and two minimal boxes that implore users to explore the collections.  

Richard Mille Website Utilizes Unique Scrolling Effects

Motion isn't just found on the landing page video on Richard Mille's website. Each scroll brings parallax-like scrolling effects. Text, images and accent boxes reverb in and out of the frame as users scroll throughout the homepage. 

These effects add an innovative touch the website design that compliments the innovation of the products while also drawing attention to important information, such as celebrity collaborations that may interest potential customers. 

The hamburger menu and logo design in the upper left corner are sticky as visitors scroll, ensuring navigation is user-friendly and easy.

The menu also incorporates the interesting motion graphics. As users roll over each menu subhead, a secondary blog of text fades into view, further explaining what lies within the pages of the website. 

Products Are Color-Coded In Web Design

Richard Mille color codes each product on the landing page. However, it's not just a regular mouse-over effect. While the watch gains its signature color upon rollover, the color coding also transforms the background, adding another slow-moving video and background image in the same hue as the color palette. 

Richard Mille Website Design Incorporates Consistent Design Elements In Product Detail Pages

The product detail pages bring back the same captivating and consistent design elements that users witnessed on the homepage and product pages. 

Although a smooth and subtle video runs in the background upon landing on the page, it is darker and less pronounced than on other pages. This allows users to more easily focus on the product at hand and read about its impressive features. 

Richard Mille incorporates a slightly robust amount of text on the product page, but likely because each product page doesn't just outline the item -- they also set a scene of luxury. 

Product Pages Offer 360-Degree View Of Product

Richard Mille timepieces cost a pretty penny, so the website design focuses on informing potential buyers about everything they possibly can. To achieve this, users are presented with a 360-degree view of the products. 

A minimal circle surrounds the product. Circular points dot the line to signify which degree users are viewing, while a larger circle on the line allows users to manipulate the view of the product. This is more user-friendly than an automatically rotating 360-degree view, as it enables viewers to focus on the areas of the item that may interest them the most.

Richard Mille Website Focuses On Storytelling

The product pages have a surprisingly deep scroll, but they don't just focus on mundane details. Instead, each product page incorporates its own unique "about" section. It describes the motivational figure that wears it with pride or inspired the item. 

For example, the RM 11-03 McLaren was named for famed racecar driver Bruce McLaren and inspired by the high-tech, fast cars he drove. Thus, the product page details a comprehensive timeline of Bruce's career, culminating in how his life and work directly influenced the watch. 

Product Pages Listed Detailed Specs

Following the initial product views and descriptive story on the product detail page, each one concludes with detail specs. 

This information covers everything from the technology and construction of the item to general sizes and dimensions, ensuring that visitors have a clear understanding of every product through and through. 

Richard Mille Website Design Uses Modern Effects

The entire Richard Mille website design incorporates stunning effects that captivate the users, showcase luxury and promote the brand. Despite the smooth motion throughout the design and robust content, the site is easy to navigate, loads quickly and is clear in its intention.