Designing for desire, not attention.
Art Basel's organizer MCH wanted a digital catalogue where the world's luxury watch and jewellery houses could co-exist in one experience without any of them losing their codes. Through Metropolis and DMI, I led the design of the app together with Leo Burnett and Atelier.
Luxury brands do not win by shouting. They win through restraint, codes, detail and emotional precision.
The challenge
Every house in the catalogue protects its identity ferociously, and every house believes it should come first. The design had to create one shared stage where a maison's codes survived intact next to its rivals, inside an experience that felt like Art Basel rather than like any single brand. Neutrality at that level is not the absence of design. It is the hardest kind.
What I did
Led the design of the app: structure, visual system and interaction, built to let each house's materials, typography and imagery breathe inside one coherent frame.
Defined the editorial logic that let jewellery and watches be browsed as a curated exhibition rather than a product list.
Worked with Leo Burnett and Atelier to carry the concept from design through delivery.
The result
The app serves the fair's audience year over year.
- 300,000+
- 4.5
Users yearly
App Store rating
Luxury and premium brands operate in a world where perception is value. Every detail matters because every detail signals meaning. This experience shaped my belief that taste is not decoration. It is a commercial signal.
About the company
Art Basel
Art Basel, organized by MCH Group, is the world's leading platform for modern and contemporary art, staging fairs across continents. Its audience is collectors, houses and institutions for whom presentation is inseparable from value.
- Art, luxury, watches and jewellery
- App design leadership, design system, editorial logic
- Engagement through Metropolis and DMI
- BRAND APP
