Shopify's design vision brings Horizon into view

AI has rewritten the rules of what's possible online. But possibility without purpose creates chaos, not progress.

This is where design steps in—not as an afterthought, but as the guiding force that transforms this opportunity into meaningful human experiences. 

Our focus isn't on what AI can do, but on how it should serve merchants and buyers. We're crafting AI-native products where design does more than just enhance functionality—it reimagines what's possible when technology feels intuitive, empowering, and distinctly human.

While this evolution democratizes design, making it accessible to all, the role of the designer is changing. Designers at Shopify are decision makers. And at the heart of every design decision: our merchants’ experience. 

This shift isn’t theoretical—it’s embodied in our latest innovation: Horizon. Summer '25 Edition brings Shopify’s design vision to life. Built using Theme Blocks, Horizon gives merchants more flexibility. This theme foundation has built-in AI that lets any store owner bring their brand to life with powerful, intuitive tools—no code needed.

The team that built it—and every experience across Shopify—takes an unconventional approach to the design process: striving for the impossible while embracing imperfection. 

Here, design leads.

“Unreasonable excellence”

Shopify's design philosophy exists in a tension between two powerful forces: an unwavering commitment to excellence and a culture of experimentation and risk taking. “We aim for unreasonable excellence,” says Shopify design director Maggie Fost. 

Perfection comes with a caveat.

“Achieving excellence is one thing.” she says. “But once you start to break patterns and experiment with new tools, stuff is going to be wonky for a while. Everybody is in a state of constant learning.” And that’s a good thing.

Equally important is what Shop design director Katarina Batina calls "designing at the speed of conversation.” This is the ability to realize compelling ideas at pace with the evolution of AI and commerce trends. 

Maintaining this delicate balance is crucial as Shopify design teams play a unique strategic role, often leading important conversations—all centered around what’s best for merchants.

“We are founder led, vision led, principles led. We don't build things we don't believe in. And in an organization like ours, design becomes the love language for decision making,” says Katarina.

And that decision making process embodies the spirit not of a 20-year company but that of a young, nimble startup: Shopify design teams let intuition lead. Our product philosophy prioritizes instinct and merchant and buyer input over metrics. “We chase a feeling in our work,” says Katarina.

This feeling shows up in the experiences we’re building for our merchants, empowering them to gain confidence in their own design journey and building a custom storefront that’s transformative for their brand.

“In a world of increased standardization across marketplaces, independent businesses are the only ones still pushing for unique, differentiated experiences. It’s our job at Shopify to provide the right tools for our merchants to push the boundaries of what's possible,” says Kevin Clark, design director for Storefronts and Sidekick at Shopify.

Design talent, uncapped

This relentless pursuit of excellence demands more than just processes and principles—it requires the right people, working in ways that defy convention. It’s the culture of our design teams that makes these ambitious projects possible. 

That culture presents a rare opportunity for designers to tackle big, ambiguous business problems—something Katarina says she’s not seeing elsewhere. “Nothing in this company moves without design in a very major way,” she says.

And that’s an attractive prospect for designers.

Teams are set up to dismantle barriers that typically constrain designers. The organizational structure is constantly shifting, roles are fluid, and design leads stay close to the craft. “More leaders are finding their way back into the work,” says Katarina, “and Shopify has always valued that.”

This deliberate fluidity creates an environment ripe with experimentation, where both crafters and leads can play outside rigid definitions of their roles. “We don't have a fixed idea of what those forms of collaboration and structures and relationships look like,” says Maggie.

This flexibility also serves merchants. When design teams are unblocked, they can focus on building the best experiences for store owners.

Nimble design teams, embedded with developers, are “empowered to take big swings,” says Maggie, and that sometimes means pushing tools to the limit. This Edition, they’re doing it again, testing new tech and taking more risks.

A new design Horizon 

Nowhere is Shopify's design vision more evident than in Horizon.

“The first thing that was important to us was to push the boundary on how expressive we could make a storefront,” says Kevin. This was achieved with 10 new design presets, customizable Theme Blocks, and AI-enhanced editing tools that let merchants personalize their storefronts and tell their brand story. “There are so many details everywhere where we just raised the bar for what a great commerce experience can be.”

This matters because today's buyers purchase more than just products—they invest in brands and their stories. Horizon gives entrepreneurs the ability to create storefronts that match the care they've put into every other aspect of their brand.

And it allows merchants to evolve their online presence at the pace of trends and customer demand. As they launch new collections or introduce new products, they can quickly update how their brand is represented—keeping their digital storefront as dynamic as their business.

Design influence features heavily across the rest of our latest Edition, where teams tackled big problems. Take Shop. Designers were tasked with balancing user consistency—that is the buyer experience—with a merchant interface that provides the level of customization they’ve come to expect from Shopify. This Edition brings Shop homefeed updates that feel more personal for buyers while boosting merchant visibility.

“Merchants tell us they want more expression, more control,” says Katarina. “That's the precedent that's been set in the online store.” 

Merchant obsession is the invisible thread running through every product in our ecosystem. From our AI store builder to the redesigned Shopify Point of Sale, designers flexed heavily this Edition, building products and shipping updates that marry beauty and performance.

This balance is captured in the Summer '25 Edition site, once again packed with interactive elements. “It’s really hard to do that stuff and make it load instantly,” says Maggie. “That's why design and engineering need to be together, trotting forward, side by side, and negotiating back and forth to realize this vision.”

Ultimately, design’s role is to make every experience more intuitive for everyone. Every aspiring entrepreneur considering Shopify. Each developer building on our platform. Every merchant with a unique vision for scaling their business. And millions of buyers discovering products on Shop.

“Great design can bend the learning curve to entrepreneurship and allow more people to turn their dream into a real business,” says Kevin.

Designing beyond what’s possible

The stakes for design have never been higher. Even in an AI-powered reality, design is about making technology feel intuitive and empowering, and we’re wielding it to build tools that enhance human capability and creativity. 

At the same time, AI is becoming the great equalizer, making valuable tools accessible to everyone, regardless of technical expertise. But behind those tools is a Shopify design team pushing boundaries in the service of creating commerce experiences that don't just work, but feel right.

“We fundamentally believe that your experience using Shopify should make you feel better about your entrepreneurial journey and confident in the decisions you're making,” says Katarina. “And all of that comes out of the decisions we make as designers every day.”