Tag Heuer

Luxury Watch and mobile app design

Case Study: Crafting the Future of Luxury Wearables for Tag Heuer. Designing the Orbital connected watch and mobile application.

Skills

Head of Design
Creative direction
Lead Ux/Ui Designer
Leadership

Delivery

Watch interfaces
Mobile app layouts
Preview and commercial video
Slides presentation

Tools & Software

Figma
Sketch
After effect
Photoshop

Fields

Watchmaking
Luxury
New technology
Connected object

Design of the watch interface
Design of the watch interface

Context

Tag Heuer, an esteemed Swiss luxury watchmaker, sought to venture into the burgeoning market of connected watches (2018). While experienced in traditional luxury watchmaking, the brand required an agency to design digital interfaces for their inaugural wearable tech product. As the founder and Head of Design of my agency Uni, we won this call for tender and we created a user-friendly interface for the watch and a compatible mobile application experience while aligning with Tag Heuer’s brand guidelines and aesthetic values.

Brand Immersion

Before embarking on the design journey, I was invited to immerge myself in the essence of Tag Heuer. This travel to the brand’s headquarters in Switzerland provided an invaluable opportunity to delve deep into its history and ethos. This immersion, combined with a comprehensive study of the brand guidelines, laid the groundwork for the design process and art direction.

Tag Heuer mobile application

Design & Art direction

The challenge was immense: translating the luxury and sporting essence of the brand into a modern, user-friendly interface. Through collaboration with my dedicated team, several creative approaches were conceptualized and presented to the project’s director. After rigorous iterations, I pitched the selected proposal to the Tag Heuer’s President, Frédéric Arnault.

first slide of presentation
second slide of presentation

Key Highlights

Emerging Market Context: The connected watch segment was in its early stages at the project’s inception. This was exigent and challenging.
Direct Engagement with Leadership: The design proposal’s presentation to Tag Heuer’s president underscored the project’s significance and the trust vested in my team.
Luxury project: This project reinforced the critical importance of tailored design approaches for luxury brands, ensuring that brand heritage and modern tech usability seamlessly converged.

Mobile app interfaces
Mobile app interfaces

Conclusion

Designing for Tag Heuer was both a privilege and a responsibility, given the brand’s standing in the luxury market. The project emphasized the importance of aligning traditional brand values with modern technology requirements, showcasing the potential of marrying heritage with innovation in the connected watch space.

 

The resulting design not only served as a bridge between Tag Heuer’s storied past and its envisioned future but also set a precedent in the luxury connected watch segment.

Video: first prototype of the running experience into the mobile app