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Le Labo
Le Labo
Year
2015-Present
Team
Strategy, Design, Photography, Music
Program
Factory
Service
Creative Direction
Art Direction
Ecommerce Design
Web Development
Photography
Email Design
Print Design
Music Production
Brief
In 2015, we established a lasting and rewarding partnership with Le Labo to help translate the brand into a digital experience through the redesign of their ecommerce website.
We took a very methodical approach and worked closely with the founders and executive team to ensure we accomplished the objectives for the business and brand while bringing the in-store experience to their audiences online.
Since the relaunch, our studio has played a key role in the ongoing evolution of the brand. We continue to work alongside the team to produce ongoing creative, design, and photography services.
Discovery
We began the transformation process by closely studying the in-store experience of their flagship store in New York City.
In order to fully understand the essence of the brand, we conducted our practice of Method Consulting which led us to being trained as the newest souls to work out of the Nolita and Venice boutiques. We learned how to compound perfume, personalize and label the bottles, interact with customers – essentially the ins-and-outs of what makes the Le Labo retail experience so compelling. By documenting our experience through imagery and sketches, we had the essential ingredients for what we needed to translate this experience into the digital world.
Ecommerce
We led the redesign and relaunch of the new online retail channel.
We worked closely with the founders and e-commerce director to redesign their digital retail experience. We started the process with an immersion into the brand, product, and physical experience which laid the conceptual and strategic groundwork for the design process. Each and every decision carefully considered the brand aesthetic and key business objectives. The finished product is a natural translation and extension of the Le Labo brand into the digital space, achieved through a holistic architecture, interface design, art direction, and content.
We defined the look and feel for product photography within the commerce experience.
After studying the boutique experience and aesthetics, we developed a look for the product photography that was scalable, direct, and most importantly brought the feeling and functionality of the in-store experience directly to you.
We translated the product personalization program into an interactive digital experience.
One of the hallmark moments of the Le Labo in-store experience is customizing the perfume bottle label which is then applied to the bottle in front of you. We adapted this experience online by displaying a real-time preview of the personalization text displayed on the product and packaging.
We provided ongoing production of all digital marketing assets for the brand.
We are proud to say that for the past 6 years we have been producing internal and external photography assets. Over the years, we have shot in multiple locations around the world, worked with many of their souls, and helped establish the visual language for the brand and how imagery is used to highlight their craft, creations, and space.
We shot photography for the Le Labo boutiques, labs, and corners around the world.
We’ve traveled around the globe to help define and capture the Le Labo boutique design and experience. Over the past few years, as they’ve grown at a faster speed, we developed photography guidelines to direct local photographers when new locations launch outside the US.
We photographed the souls behind the world of Le Labo.
As part of our location documentation, we’ve also been capturing the souls who work at each location. Each soul is unique and brings a poetic angle to the scents and how perfume can be experienced. We aim to capture them in the space performing their daily rituals around the space.
We developed the system for capturing product ingredient images.
The ingredients play an important role in the story of Le Labo’s product. The product naming itself is derived from the primary ingredient, along with the number of ingredients included in the formulation. We developed and art direction and compositional system for capturing these ingredients, incorporating unique styling depending on the collection.
We captured the Le Journal introduction and launch campaign.
A few years ago, Le Labo launched Le Journal. This is a periodical that promotes the voice and personality of the brand. They cover a wide variety of topics and current events in their own tongue in cheek way. We’ve worked with them to capture each launch to share on social.
Campaigns
We developed the campaign for their first line of personal care.
We partnered with the team to crack the visual language for how they would present their new category, personal care. The category is split up into two; Body–Hair–Face and Grooming. Both of these categories were new territory for Le Labo, and our aim was to align the visuals with the product intention while maintaining the familiar feeling often communicated with their imagery.
We captured the delicate process being their annual rose harvest in the Grasse, France.
The rose harvest happens once a year for a very small window of time – when the weather, light and conditions are perfect. We traveled to Grasse, France with the team to capture the process and story behind the people who are dedicated to this precious task.
We produced campaign imagery for the annual City Exclusive event.
Le Labo opens the doors to any/all of their City Exclusives that are typically only sold in their respective cities to purchased and formulated from any of their boutiques – rare! Each year we work with them to produce the visuals to represent and promote the event.
We collaborated on hand-painted murals in major US cities.
Every year since 2019, Le Labo has worked closely with Colossal (a Brooklyn based mural painting company dedicated to maintaining and growing the art of murals) to promote new products, campaigns and collections.
Misc.
We composed a musical score to represent Rose 31.
We were invited to write and record a track that would be included on the Le Labo vinyl first edition. Each scent is thoughtfully represented by an artist that escapes the vibe of their classic collection.
Results
Organic Online Sales
YoY Growth
+47%
Conversion Rate
+13%
Case Studies