Responses by Tim Weers, founder, Build in Amsterdam

Background: Abel is an Amsterdam-based perfume house which crafts unisex scents using only naturally derived ingredients. The brand’s “living” fragrances evolve on the skin and works with the consumer’s body chemistry to create a scent that is completely unique. We translated these characteristics into an elegant fluid e-commerce experience that invites curious users to dive into Abel’s vita odor collection.

Highlights: The homepage is where our concept comes alive. Each perfume has its own ambiance brought by a moodboard of color, sound and moving imagery. We wanted the users to perceive the scents through our minimalistic layouts and connect them to their own memories and experiences.

Challenges: Selling perfumes without allowing the consumer to smell it first is an ambitious challenge. By mixing the use of different media, we create a unique atmosphere that incites feelings and triggers the senses for each fragrance.

Favorite details: We wanted to introduce the idea of living fragrances with an abstract texture that would be dynamic and be able to flow freely through the screen. When users enter the site, they will see an ever-changing visual that reacts to their presence like how the perfume would react on the consumer’s skin.

Anything new: We learned that it is not easy to work with different sounds! Each background sound needs to be strong enough to be associated with each fragrance, and not overwhelming. We spent hours listening to wind, rain and night bird noises before finding the perfect soundtrack! This is also one of the first projects we prototyped with InVision. It was convenient for us as we could test the navigation while gathering feedback among the team, and facilitate dialogue with the client.