Shopify Design – Tips, Principles, Examples

  1. What Principles Should You Follow To Create A Good Shopify Website?
  2. Try To Find A Shopify Theme That Really Suits Your Business.
  3. 7 Shopify Design Principles
    1. You Need An Easy To Navigate Website
    2. Good Optimization
    3. Create a Good User Interface
    4. Attract Customers with Your Proposition
    5. Show that Your Website is Secure
    6. Show More Information about Your Products
    7. Shopping Experience Personalization
  4. Keep Calm and Keep the Work

shopify design tips

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We all know how important it is to find customers, especially nowadays when there are so many companies and products. This is why the modern market requires from you even more skills and tools than it did previously. Anyone can find any type of product in any place of the world now. All the customer has to do is to Google the product name. In this situation, a customer can find the cheapest product and simply order shipping. This is why many modern businesses need a website.

But it is not enough to have a simple and classic website. You definitely need something special. To create this special product, you can start with design. And I want to tell you all I know about online stores and e-commerce design. Since my favorite e-commerce platform is Shopify, I want to tell you more about Shopify design. I’ll share with you some shopify design tips and examples of top Shopify designs. You can find even more examples online in this list of top 50 best Shopify design templates.

Why do I like Shopify? It is really easy to use and customize. And obviously, it has all you need for successful e-commerce development.

There are many websites developed on the Shopify platform. And their number grows constantly. According to the Shopify official page, there are more than 800,000 online businesses developed with Shopify. It is so popular because you can create any type of online store due to this platform. And if you ask me why I believe it is good, then we should check the pros and cons of Shopify.

You can also create a Shopify e-commerce website. And if you want some specific website design, then it may be a good idea to create a website from scratch. Though, I believe you should check website template marketplaces first. Reliable marketplaces tend to provide customers with products that have the best Shopify design. There are hundreds of these marketplaces, and I am sure that you will find something good.


What Principles Should You Follow To Create A Good Shopify Website?

You have to know how to choose a good design. And it does not matter if you develop a new website or choose an e-commerce theme. You have to follow some basic rules to create a suitable website or online store. In my personal opinion, there are seven important design principles that will help you. Of course, I made a list of them. I am a blogger, after all. In addition, you have to know how to find a theme that suits your business. We will start with the last one.


Try To Find A Shopify Theme That Really Suits Your Business.

If you want to install a ready-made website theme, then you will do it anyway. It is obvious that the kids' store needs a website with colorful and eye-catchy design. At the same time, fashion industry websites tend to look elegant. Though it is up to your imagination how to decorate your store. But you have to be aware that your website will be your business card. It will have a direct influence on the atmosphere that your website creates. And that is a huge part of user experience. A bad design can discourage clients from ordering products from you.

As I told you already, it is the most obvious principle. But the most important. And those of you who want to develop a Shopify website by themselves have to follow this rule too. Why? The answer is obvious. There are tones of themes with different Shopify designs and some of them will be good examples for you. You can check their structure, included effects and decide whether you want to develop something like this. And with such experience, you can create something new. Something that absolutely suits your business. For example, if you check some Shopify online store themes you will see where to put a cart button, how to decorate your header, and determine if would it be necessary to make many categories.

Fortunately, the Shopify framework provides you with a huge number of customization options. And if you are looking for an e-commerce website template, you can find many free Shopify themes too. However, most of them cost from $139 to $180. But do not worry that much about color tones and typography. You can always customize them.

If you work with Shopify design, then you have to keep in mind a few important questions:

  • How much money do I have for my website? Keep in mind, that it is not enough to simply download a website template. For some purposes, you may need additional plugins or applications. And even with the free Shopify template you still need some money to run an online store. Keep this in mind and check everything before you start.
  • How to present my products most preferably? Another obvious thing, yet I have to mention it. For example, if you run a fashion store, then it would be wise to include some images with a zoom effect to present all the details. You also need high-quality images in this case. The number of displayed products is also a big deal for user experience. You can concentrate attention on a few valuable products or provide customers with a huge amount of products right away.
  • What is the common practice? I do not advise you to do as everyone does—that may harm your business. Most developers know how e-commerce works. And if they tend to create many category pages, then probably it is a more user-friendly option. I would advise you to use others' experience. And if you check a few Shopify themes 2019 you will definitely mention some basic rules of e-commerce development.
  • What type of structure and features do I need?  Every detail is important for the overall user experience. Think about image size, length of pages, number of social options, and so on. Do not forget that every detail is important for product presentation.

7 Shopify Design Principles

1. You Need An Easy To Navigate Website

It is important not to overload your website with an incomprehensible number of images, products and design elements. It is quite a common problem, but this problem is really easy to avoid. In most cases, it happens because of a lack of marketing and design skills.

Of course, it is your obvious desire to show the customer all your products. But trust me, it is a bad idea to jam all products into one page. Smart people already developed category pages, and it is wise to use them. And even if you develop a category page do not jam all mixers into one page. Do not mix them. It will be a much better option to include a few filters that can sample your products by price or manufacturer. The size of images is also up to you. But make sure that customers can see the product. Try not to make them too small. However, the category page has to be your catalog, and it has to present a few products at the same time. It is important to provide customers with a choice.


2. Good Optimization

Loading time is also important. If you purchase a ready-made website theme with Shopify design, then make sure it works fast. You need a website theme with a reliable code that has no redundant elements. And if you purchase a pre-developed product you can check it via demo version. You can also find information about the average website speed online. In this article, for example.

According to studies I found, every second of loading delay reduces page view by 11%. In addition, each second of delay reduces customer satisfaction by 16%.

Another important thing is that faster websites get ranked higher than others. This will make your website less SEO-friendly, and in this way, it will be hard for customers to find your online store and spend their money. Fortunately, you can easily check the website speed with PageSpeed Insights. This tool will help you to analyze website speed and find out how to improve it.

The easiest way to optimize any website is to get rid of all redundant elements. And I have a few options for you.

At first, the most easier thing is to compress your images. It may have some effect on your images, but you can control the whole process with multiple online compressors. Most of them can reduce the weight of your image without a notable effect on quality.

Another tip is to be modest with widgets. Yes, we all like widgets. But keep in mind that all of them influence optimization. Optimization is important. So try to avoid unnecessary widgets and keep a balance between useful and pleasant.

Though Shopify design can include many effects you have to be careful with Carousels. At first, your website will be too destructive for customers if you include too many design effects. For some purposes, they can be useful. Yet, when it comes to optimization, Carousels may increase loading time.


3. Create a Good User Interface

One of your main missions is to make navigation and shopping easy and pleasant for your customers. In this case, you have to create a good user interface. Customers have to see where to click. Moreover, there must be all the necessary buttons. It will be also great if your online store had some branding that will make your business notable and attract more customers. There are even more elements in UI, and you should know at least some things about them. There are also logos, typography, color schemes and so on.

I have an easy to read UI E-book for you. It is a good way to learn a few new things about web development and web design. Moreover, it was published by guys from TemplateMonster, who are also ready to share their experience. Trust me, they know a lot about web development. Just go to the product page and take a look. It is also easy to download this eBook.

You also have to make sure that your website works on all modern devices and systems. Here you can find out how to improve usability in mobile web design.


4. Attract Customers with Your Proposition

You have to impress website visitors. It is obviously not the easiest task to attract customers, but there is another important mission. You have to hold your client base and make them return to your website. It is important no matter what type of business you have.

It is a good idea to play with design, color schemes, design effects and so on. But do not forget to highlight your most valuable products and services. You can easily use a bigger font. However, what if you have a few important, yet separate propositions or website parts? Then it will be a good idea to use a Shopify theme with a clean design. As you can see, we can always find a solution.

One of the most important things is the product price. You can highlight with different colors. Yet, if you have few products with a VERY attractive price, then feel free to put them on the header of your e-commerce website—Shopify design features allow you to do that. Alternatively, you can put them on a home page, or you can simply enlarge images for these products. Besides design features, you can use a blog and newsletters to tell visitors and clients about the most attractive prices.


5. Show that Your Website is Secure

When it comes to money and online purchases, people tend to be cautious. And if you want to create an atmosphere of trust. To do so, you can include more certificates and trust seals in the most visible places. For example, all Shopify themes come with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). And it is up to you whether you wish to tell them about it because it may be a piece of redundant information they never cared about. Yet, in my personal opinion, it will be a good idea to include an SSL icon into your Shopify design.

Keep in mind that Baymard Institute said that 17% of cart abandonment cases happened because of a lack of trust in online stores. Clients simply found no reason to trust their credit card information to some specific online store.


6. Show More Information about Your Products

An online store is a place where customers can’t touch or smell products. For example, if you run a fashion store, then you have to include detailed images, tell more about textiles, where it came from, who is a manufacturer and who is a vendor. In my opinion, it is a great idea to shower customers with data. They will fill much better when they know a lot about the product.

According to Bright local, 88% of customers trust online reviews. So it will be good for you to create a blog ad to tell more about your products. You have to be close to keep in touch with your customers after all.


7. Shopping Experience Personalization

Modern web admin tools combined with Shopify tags and collections allow you to segment customers according to their preferences. If you have a database that shows what type of products, brands or price range customers prefer, you can present more relevant products. Consequently, your customers will spend more time on your online store, which can give you more sales and profit.


Keep Calm and Keep the Work

After you develop a website, do not stop working. If you think that the job is done, then I regret to disappoint you. However, to run your online business, you have to redesign it from time to time. There is always a reason to remind everyone about you. People like when something is happening and they become curious about changes. You can also decorate your website for the holidays.

Halloween and the fourth of July may be a good reason to add a few thematic elements. Widgets, logos, flags and fonts all can be used to bring more life into your Shopify design. And you simply have to follow modern web design trends.




Read Also

Top 50 Best Shopify Themes

Top 50 Parallax Shopify Themes

Free Shopify Themes: Collection of the Best Items Released in 2019

How to Select the Most Appropriate Template for Your Shopify Store


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Pavlo Farionov

Hi! I'm Pavlo and I work in the web development sphere for two years. And since I have few tips to share I write articles from time to time. Come in and check them out. LinkedIn.

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