Aleria × Gemeos

Art Direction

Aleria faces a double paradox: the French premium saddle market is dominated by brands with austere, institutional visual codes (Antares, CWD, Butet), while the few brands that dare to feel modern and digital are foreign. The founder wanted an identity that captures both the elegance of French luxury and digital modernity, without sacrificing one for the other.

Visual Territory

Maxime built the art direction around references outside the equestrian world: Apple for product presentation and interface clarity, Hermès for originality and brand differentiation, and Butet for credibility in the saddle-making space. The palette keeps Aleria’s existing visual identity, enriched with a more premium photographic treatment and a stronger typographic hierarchy.

The Specific Challenge

The saddle is the hero product, it should never get lost in the pages. Unlike competing saddle brands’ websites (Stübben, WOW Saddles), where the saddle gets buried under accessories, every Aleria page is designed so users can reach the saddle in one click max, with a presentation worthy of the biggest names in luxury saddle-making.

UX / UI Design

The Aleria website had to hit several goals at once: present a complex technical product in a simple, compelling way (19 adjustable parameters, modular system), speak to a very broad customer base, from amateur riders to competitors, and drive a concrete action: configure a saddle or book a meeting with a saddle fitter.

The Saddle Configurator

The project’s most innovative design angle: a saddle configurator inspired by car configurators, Porsche was the reference, adapted to the equestrian world. The user picks aesthetic options in real time, leather color, finish type, panels, pad color and stitching, accessory options, and instantly sees the saddle come together with its final price. A radically different approach from existing configurators (IKONIC, CWD), which felt too slow or too minimal.

The Saddle Fitter Map

To drive bookings, Maxime designed a geolocation interface for partner saddle fitters on an interactive map of France, with direct access to each professional’s Calendly schedule. A 3-click journey: locate → choose → book.

Webflow Build

The Aleria site build (weeks 5–6 of the timeline) was delivered by Tiphaine, based on Maxime’s approved designs. The project’s main technical challenge came down to two custom modules: the saddle configurator and the saddle-fitter map.

Saddle Configurator

Built with real-time customization logic in Webflow, the configurator lets users combine multiple visual options, leather color, finish, panels, and accessory add-ons, then instantly displays the visual result and final price. It’s a lighter, faster approach than the heavy JavaScript solutions used by competing configurators.

Interactive Map & Booking

The partner saddle-fitter map across France includes geolocation and direct access to each professional’s Calendly widget. The booking flow is cut down to 3 steps to reduce friction and drive more inquiries.

A Webflow training session was delivered at launch so the Aleria team could manage the product catalog, partner saddle-fitters, and editorial content independently.

SEO

Aleria’s SEO strategy was built around one key insight: the search market for riding saddles is dominated by players that don’t really answer the question of equine well-being. Aleria targets high-intent queries tied to both purchase decisions and problem-solving.

Priority Angles

Problem-based searches (“ill-fitting horse saddle,” “uncomfortable saddle for rider,” “sore back rider”), product searches (“custom equestrian saddle,” “adjustable horse saddle,” “ergonomic riding saddle”), and geo-targeted searches for saddle fitters (“saddle fitter [city]”).

SEO Architecture

The site was structured with a clear semantic hierarchy, custom meta tags for each page, and Product schema markup for saddle product pages. The saddle fitters page uses LocalBusiness markup for each listed professional, boosting local visibility in saddle-fitting advice searches.