Using a 360-Degree Photo App to Sell Art: Cactus Fine Art

If you’re looking to replicate in-person shopping experiences on your ecommerce website, consider incorporating a 360-degree photo app into your product listings. As the name suggests, a 360-degree photo app lets your customers view your products from all angles—they can zoom in, zoom out, turn them to the right or left, and toggle up or down. This works especially well for products that customers may want to scrutinize before purchasing, such as jewelry, clothes, toys, housewares, and art.

Based in Mexico City, Cactus Fine Arts gathers the finest works of folkloric art from some of the most recognized artisans in Latin America. Entrepreneur and art curator Ricardo Vazquez knew that he needed to make web customers feel like they were viewing each piece up close and in-person in order to successfully launch his fine art store for an international audience. Ricardo wanted a website that would be more than a shop; it would be a gallery that showcased the craftsmanship, culture, detail, and traditions of each item in the collection. To serve their international market, the new website would also exist in two iterations: an English and Spanish version with corresponding currencies.  

Covering All Angles, Starting With a New Logo

Our first step entailed designing a visual identity for Cactus Fine Arts, which included a new logo, graphic design elements including patterns and brand marks, and marketing collateral. The brand’s tagline—Handmade Heart—served as inspiration for Brooke on our design team, as did this statement by Ricardo: “When I see the handcrafts that we will be selling, I see the heart of the artisans reflecting their feelings in the masterpiece, the same as a Cactus.”

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Brooke created a clean logo mark to represent the brand’s high-end, exclusive products. The prickly pear watercolor illustration looks like an abstract heart, connecting both the name of the company and the heart of the skilled artisans at the core of the brand. “Together, these elements position Cactus Fine Art as a fresh, artistic, and welcoming brand that sells exclusive products and is respected by collectors of high-quality handcrafts,” Brooke said.

Designing a Store that Showcases Your Art

When choosing colors for both the logo and website, Brooke was mindful of creating a palette that would be refreshing, but not intrusive. The shop’s main goal was to showcase the art pieces front and center, so she designed a sleek, clean home page that allows the images to shine without competing with other page elements. Scrolling below the fold reveals some pops of color balanced with white space, easy-to-read typography, and vibrant, eye-catching images of the artisans’ works.

The home page invites customers to visit the shop through a few different avenues: the main navigation, the category links below the intro text, or the featured items along the bottom of the homepage. Once on an individual item page, customers get a chance to really appreciate the art in all of its 360-degree glory.

Integrating 360-degree Photos into Your Shop

Our developer, Jon, chose a 360-degree photo app called Arqspin that could easily be integrated with the brand’s Shopify site. A real perk of the app is that it allows store owners to upload new products as they’re added to stock. You purchase or rent a turntable, shoot the products yourself, and use the platform’s phone app to capture a full spin of the product and upload it to your site.

The result for visitors is unlike any other shopping experience. “It allows for customers to spin the products around and see a 360-degree view, almost as if they were holding the product in their hand and examining it,” Jon said.

For art pieces such as sculptures, vases and jewelry, as well as home decor items such as pottery, or even children’s toys, this complete, multi-angle view allows customers from all corners of the globe to take in the products’ full beauty.

Looking to make your products shine with a 360-degree photo app? Contact us to discuss designing a website that will truly showcase every item!