Digital Catalogues Designed for Live Auctions

Designing Sotheby’s Digital Explorations for Live Auctions

I worked with Sotheby's to transform their printed auction catalogues into a digital experience designed to support live auctions.

Collectors already relied heavily on auction catalogues to research pieces and make bidding decisions. By moving the experience into a digital format, we could make information easier to access, allow collectors to save notes against individual pieces, follow live pricing, place bids directly within the experience, and engage more deeply with the artwork through video, audio, and 3D views where they added useful context.

Bringing Collectors Closer to the Artwork

What I found most interesting about the project was that it wasn't really about digitising a catalogue. Once you look at the catalogue as a decision-making tool rather than simply a publication, the priorities change. Features like note-taking, live bidding, and richer media stop being technology features and start becoming ways to help collectors evaluate opportunities and participate more confidently in the auction process.

Key Takeaway The most successful digital experiences don't simply recreate existing formats on a screen. They build on existing behaviours, making information easier to access, easier to understand, and more useful at the moment people need it.