How We Designed The Intersection of the Sharing Economy and Luxury Timepieces For Eleven James
Eleven James is redefining the world of luxury time-pieces by creating a subscription service that offers members access to a collection of top of the line watch brands.
Accessible Luxury
Eleven James marries luxury products with the sharing economy by offering its members access to a wealth of high-end timepieces for a low monthly fee.
They don’t have to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to be stuck wearing a single Rolex or Hublot repeatedly. Instead, for just a fraction of that expense a new watch appears in the mail every three months, creating a dynamic approach to style that fits the season as well as the latest fashion trend.
The Brief: Provide a premium service with a welcoming attitude
Eleven James approached Rainfall to refresh their online experience to create greater appeal for their young professional audience. We worked closely with their team to develop a visual language that felt bold and familiar, breaking the typically aloof attitude of other luxury brands.
In tandem, an innovative interaction model that sequenced information like the ticking of a second hand pushed Eleven James’s brand story forward, and made membership conversion and product selection a cinch.
A friendly, familiar tone with a modern, stylish aesthetic
Eleven James is about accessible luxury, so we started by interviewing potential customers about what drives them to or from particular luxury brands.
We found that the traditional approach of creating aspirational, fictional worlds induced eye-rolling and blank stares. Audience members instead wanted messages that were inclusive and matter-of-fact, with the understanding that timepieces regardless of type are meant to be worn and fit into their guardian’s everyday life.
These conversations provided clear marching orders: We ditched brooding black backgrounds in favor of a cleaner, more welcoming white palette that used blue as an accent, and opted for spare use of larger type.
The timepieces have enough embellishments, we felt that the typefaces should not.
The design referenced the Swiss heritage of timepiece craftsmanship through a structure rooted in the International style.
We elected to use various weights of Univers, and Akzidenz-Grotesque in large, unapologetic sizes that enhanced readability, and built the individual layouts with a clean, mathematical grid that objectively simplified the presentation of page content through uniform construction.
A grid system related to the passage of time
Just as time is divided so is the grid system we employed for Eleven James. Single columns, the smallest units of width, are referred to as “seconds,” which can be combined to create a larger block we call a “minute.” The remaining page width, even larger still, is an “hour.” This flexible system of layout maintains uniformity of every page while allowing for variation when presenting information.
Custom icons impart information at a glance
Just as time is divided so is the grid system we employed for Eleven James. Single columns, the smallest units of width, are referred to as “seconds,” which can be combined to create a larger block we call a “minute.” The remaining page width, even larger still, is an “hour.” This flexible system of layout maintains uniformity of every page while allowing for variation when presenting information.
A grid system related to the passage of time
As part of Eleven James’s more modern aesthetic and desire to convey concepts simply and effectively, a series of icons were created to explain variations in watch designs, as well as larger concepts including timepiece selection, care, and shipping.
A personable, informative user experience
The idea of renting a watch may seem simple, but after interviewing prospective customers we found that selecting a timepiece only came easy to those who knew a fair amount about luxury watch brands.
For those new to the space, finding a suitable watch included two decisions: how much they were comfortable spending monthly, and whether they preferred modern, classic, or exuberant styling.
Another challenge was the need to communicate a tiered approach to membership. Timepieces were grouped into multiple tiers based on their value. Each tier included three options, each at a unique monthly price.
Our solution was to display a representative example of a timepiece from each tier along with the lowest associated monthly price.
A more detailed explanation of pricing was reserved for visitors who had elected to explore the available time pieces and their monthly cost.
Finding the right fit from Eleven James’s collection
For many in our focus group, access to luxury watches at a low monthly price felt too good to be true.
Our response was to build consumer trust by communicating Eleven James’s passion for the collection and care of unique timepieces. We then explained how Eleven James works to share that passion by pairing individuals with watches they’d never dreamt they would wear.
To demonstrate this within the experience, a large selection of watches is narrowed down as the user interacts, metaphorically personalizing the selection process to each visitor.
A watches journey from selection to arrival
The Eleven James membership experience is one-part concierge service, one-part advanced logistics, with timepieces checked, cleaned, and sized to a member’s wrist before being delivered to their front door. For visitors still skeptical of the company’s mission, this page explains each step of the process through bold visuals and clear, concise motion design.
Tiers of membership
While the tiers of membership sounded complex, we worked to communicate the various levels as an abundance of choice by making the browsing process simple and straightforward.
Visitors can fly through each tier with a simple scroll, or navigate quickly to a particular tier using a tabbed browsing approach.
A warm welcome, and friendly hello
The homepage needed to set Eleven James’s tone of voice as an accessible provider of luxury watches, while also clearly explaining their program.
A light black marquee eases the mental transition from traditional luxury to modern sensibility, as it transitions to further information presented on a sparse yet structured white page.
Gifting Membership
The gift of an Eleven James membership is more than just a fresh luxury watch every quarter. Membership is the gift of access to a vast library of timepieces as well as exclusive events.
Large typography communicates the most important information, while beautiful imagery offers enticement and education.
Loaning your watch into the ecosystem
An alternative option for members is to loan a personal timepiece into the Eleven James collection.
This allows others to experience quality timepieces that might otherwise be sitting on a shelf while generating monthly revenue for the original owner.
A portable collection
A key vehicle for new signups is word of mouth, so we made it easy for members to show off to their friends while out socializing.
The entire Eleven James experience is responsive, meaning that browsing the collection, signing up, and selecting watches is easy regardless of the time or place.
A website that embodies the brand’s values and simplifies engagement.
Rainfall’s partnership with Eleven James kept this project ticking. Constant design reviews combined with rapid feedback loops ensured a steady pace and allowed for rapid deployment for testing.
An iterative design strategy helped us learn from real customers and create an experience that drew new customers in and kept existing ones engaged.
Eleven James’s website is clean and unadorned to honor the design of the timepieces in their collection.
Creative impact
This approach of favoring the discovery of unique timepieces rather than the embellishment of the website itself naturally retains customers and encourages visitors to sign up.
View the complete Eleven James case study at Rainfall.co
Marc founded Rainfall, a brand experience design studio in Seattle and New York that specializes in graphic, app, and website design. We are always hungry for new clients. You can also follow Rainfall’s work on Instagram. Or reach out directly to discuss product design and branding.
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