Shopify Plus: 2015

Role

As the lead designer on this project, I did the research, design, and assisted with development. My responsibilities included stakeholder interviews, competitor analysis, content inventory, brand style guide, information architecture, copywriting, wireframing, mood board development, designing, testing, and front-end development.

Problem

A year after it was created, the Shopify Plus team learned a lot about who they were and the product they were offering. The brand they had set out with in the beginning of their journey had fallen out of touch with the customers they were going after and their offering. My task was to completely redesign the Shopify Plus website to reflect the scale of their offering and attract the right customers.

Approach

I started this project with a round of research to wrap my head around the problems we had with the old site and how we wanted to be perceived with the new site. I conducted stakeholder interviews with the executive team and some of our top customers. I simultaneously inventoried the contents of the old site, did a quantitative review of the metrics, and performed a competitor analysis.

The data I collected in the research phase gave me everything I needed to conduct some workshops and create a new brand guide. It included a set of values which we used to inform the design for the rest the project. My first deliverables were a series of mood boards with photos, colours, images, and swatches that presented different approaches we could take. I used those to negotiate the direction of the overall design.

At the same time I worked on a new information architecture, copy, and wireframes. With all those pieces falling into place, I used them to develop the new design with responsive layouts for desktop and mobile devices. I played an active role in defining the development approach. I also participated as a regular contributor and tester.

Outcome

After launching the new site, we collected both qualitative and quantitative data to measure the effectiveness of the new design. It was successful not only based on how our customers perceived us but also by the number, and quality, of leads we were collecting. I am glad to see that there are parts of my brand guide that still live on in Shopify Plus’ brand today.