Deus Ex Machina
Ecommerce responsive website design for the Luftgekühlt Book
Fo the most part, the idea was to sell a ton of these books.
A limited print run hard cover in full colour, comprised of 260 page, 3kg tome that chronicles the first three chapters of the Luft story with world class photography and design by Carby Tuckwell. Featuring Jeff Zwart, Rod Emory, Bruce Meyer, Rob Dickinson and many more.
Though the brief from Deus to COG went much deeper. With a central 3PL in Hong Kong and distribution hubs in Los Angeles and Sydney, shipping books globally to a captivated audience was the key focus. Multi-currency eCommerce capabilities with a WordPress and Shopify CMS, connected to third party logistics, inventory and eCommerce API’s and gateways created a complicated back end. Though oh how glorious is the front end!
When you get a brief from a design powerhouse like Deus Ex Machina and Carby Tuckwell… you don’t wana blow it.
The client
Deus ex Machina (god from the machine) roared into Australia’s cultural consciousness in 2006, with some neatly customised motorcycles and a quaint notion that doing something is more fun than just owning something. Deus ex Machina is a step bigger than a brand: it’s a culture.
Deus (“day-us”) didn’t set out only to sell custom parts and hand-built motorcycles, but to celebrate a culture of creativity. The Deus ex Machina showroom/cafe/headquarters in Sydney immediately became a shrine to ‘run-what-you-brung’ resourcefulness and street-honest industrial art.
The Deus philosophy recalls an era before the various pursuits of fun – motorcycling, surfing, skateboarding, whatever – were marketed into fundamentalist factions. All are welcomed under the Deus roof, where there’s simply respect for the honesty and enjoyment of the machine. Inclusiveness, authenticity, enthusiasm. It’s a simple and sincere pitch that has winged Deus ex Machina across the world. Deus ex Machina says simply there’s no ‘right way’ to do individualism, its all the same juice.
The solution
The approach focused on simplicity to allow a dynamic journey through the Luft Book artwork design and the product itself.
The website had a Shopify shopping engine and WordPress CMS (yeah… it was a bit messy – we inherited something a bit interesting in the back end). The CMS needed to be designed to allow the client to access product and content information easily. The key focus was on moving product via the eCommerce checkout, so the UX was to cart the LuftBook on desktop and mobile swiftly, though still having the ability to experience of the book prior.
The results
A couple of print runs and all books sold through online – we’d say we smashed it.
Though when you’ve got exceptional design and a fantastic product – all we had to do was turn up with our A game. COG Design provided Deus Ex Machina with UX Design, eCommerce Shopify and WordPress Development and superior Aftercare. Luftbook sold out to a global audience with equal distribution from each of the 3 locations in Hong Kong which serviced Europe, Sydney to Australia and the Americas via Los Angeles.