We Are Pi challenge the meaning of luxury with their identity and website for Winkelstraat.nl

Amsterdam-based agency We Are Pi have developed a revamped visual identity for Winkelstraat.nl, one of the Netherlands’ leading digital marketplaces for luxury fashion. The inspiration behind the identity was found in the challenging relationship between luxury ownership and the acceleration of trends in the virtual-social age; with influence provided by forum platforms like Reddit and Twitter whose endless digital feeds convey a sense of constant renewal. As a result, the identity embraces a ‘live feed’ aesthetic, playing into the notion of continual public change, subsequently using an understated monochrome colour palette and a contrasting combination of Helvetica Neue and M35’s bitmap typeface Neue Pixel Grotesk. “Classic luxury is rapidly being redefined in a new and urgent digital landscape,” Design Director Seth Josephs tells us, “the pairing of something fairly classic like Helvetica Neue Roman 55 and something that represented the digital like Neue Pixel Grotesk reflects this,” he adds. Literally at the centre of the brand is the prominent square in the logomark, which is intended to be emblematic of a pixel. “It felt like an appropriate interpretation as the foundational building block of a digital shopping experience,” Josephs explains, “it flashes on and off to communicate this live feeling wherever it appears in digital interfaces,” he concludes, in doing so becoming a graphic device to highlight new products.