Easier to buy
Clear hierarchy and thoughtful interactions guide customers safely through the buying journey.
UX/UI design
Design that survives the theme.
A design is only finished once it works as a theme. We shape Shopify interfaces so that your content team and your developers can keep working with them.
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Consistent by design
A design system keeps brand, components and states aligned across every shop page.
Faster to publish
Reusable theme building blocks give your team more freedom for pages and campaigns.
- Since 2019
- 150+ Migrations and Relaunches
- Official Shopify Plus Partner
What do we design in a Shopify store?
Interface design for the store templates
Home, collection, product, cart and customer account as one connected system rather than a set of single screens. Every state is designed: empty, loading, sold out, failed.
A design system inside the theme
Colours, type scale, spacing and components live in theme settings and CSS variables, not only in Figma. A brand change then runs through settings instead of new templates.
Prototyping for the critical flows
Variant pickers, configurators, filtering and the cart drawer cannot be judged on a static screen. We make them clickable and test them before anyone builds them.
When do you need design - and when development or CRO?
Design: the brand has moved on
When positioning, range or audience no longer match what the store shows, no button test will fix it. That calls for a new design, not detail tuning.
Design: new flows are appearing
Configurators, subscription pickers, B2B signup or bundles do not exist in a stock theme. They need a designed sequence before they end up in Liquid and JavaScript.
Design: the theme has grown organically
Over the years you end up with five button variants, three greys and four spacing grids. A design system clears that up and makes every later change cheaper.
Design: content work is blocked by layout
If every campaign needs a developer, designed building blocks are missing. Sections and blocks solve that - but only if they were designed as a system first.
Development: the design already exists
With the design in place, the work moves straight into Shopify development: theme architecture, sections, metafields, data model and performance. Design is no longer a separate project phase.
CRO: the store fundamentally works
If you want more conversion from a store that already carries its weight, CRO is the route: hypothesis, test, evaluation. A redesign would be the more expensive tool with less certain effect.
Performance: people leave before anything appears
If users drop out before the first pixel renders, that is not a layout problem. Core Web Vitals and loading behaviour come before any new design.
Consulting: the direction is still open
If it is unclear whether you need a relaunch, a migration or a partial rebuild, consulting settles that first. A design project started earlier often designs the wrong thing.
How does a Shopify design project run?
01
Taking stock
We review the current theme, analytics, session recordings and support tickets. We want to know where users get stuck today before we draw anything new.
02
Structure
We define page types, navigation and content building blocks. The result is a list of sections and blocks that later exists in the theme exactly that way.
03
Design system
Type scale, colour roles, spacing, states and components get defined. Everything gets a name that also holds up in code and in theme settings.
04
Templates
We design the page types within that system, including the awkward cases: long product names, missing images, sold-out variants, four-figure prices in a foreign currency.
05
Prototype and test
We make the critical flows clickable and walk real users or your team through them. Changes are still cheap here; in the theme they are not.
06
Handover and support
We walk the design system, components and edge cases through with the developers. Then we review the build in the real theme, not in a screenshot comparison.
How do you recognise a design that holds up in daily use?
States are designed
Empty cart, sold-out variant, form error, loading state. Whatever is not designed gets improvised in code.
It stays operable
Contrast, focus styles, touch targets and keyboard operation belong in the design - not in remedial work after launch.
Your content team can fill it
Every section has limits: how much copy fits, which image formats apply, what happens when content is thin.
It can be built in Shopify
A design that ignores variants, collections and metafields gets expensive in the theme. The data model is part of the thinking.
When is a design project worth it for your store?
Then a new design is the right next step
Mobile is the main channel
The store was drawn on a large screen but sells mostly on phones. In that case the small view decides your revenue.
Products that need explaining
When customers compare, configure or check dimensions, an image and a price are not enough. That decision needs designed structure.
Several stores, one appearance
A second brand, a country store or a B2B offshoot should belong together. One shared system beats three themes maintained in parallel.
The rebuild is already decided
If a relaunch is coming anyway, the design belongs in front of it. The same decision costs far more inside a finished theme.
Then something else comes first
The trigger is a compliance question
If the pressure comes from WCAG 2.2 AA and the German BFSG rather than from how the store looks, a redesign is an expensive detour to a testable finding.
To accessibilityThe product data does not hold up
If attributes, images or stock levels are missing from ERP and PIM, every design will show the gaps. That is a data source question, not a layout one.
To system integrationThe real plan is a new market
Languages, currencies, tax logic and shipping rules for another country do not emerge from a design. They shape the structure beforehand.
To internationalisationWorking together
In what setup do we work on design?
Not every store needs a full redesign - sometimes a solid look at what already exists is enough.
UX review
Who it is for
For stores with a hunch about where things go wrong, but no solid basis for the next decision.
What is included
- Purchase path walked from a user's view
- Breaks between templates named
- Findings sorted by impact
How it ends
Ends with a prioritised list your team can work through without us.
Design project
Who it is for
For stores where structure, templates and components need to be rebuilt as one coherent system.
What is included
- A system instead of single page designs
- States and edge cases designed too
- Feasibility in the theme settled upfront
How it ends
Ends with a design system your developers can build from without follow-up questions.
Design in operation
Who it is for
For stores with running campaigns, a growing range and new content landing in the theme regularly.
What is included
- New sections inside the existing system
- Designs for campaigns and promotions
- System upkeep when the brand shifts
How it ends
Ends with new pages that look like the brand without anyone designing from scratch.
E-commerce for brands with bigger ambitions.
Brands with €950M+ GMV trust us
From migration to scale, NICCOS combines bold design, robust technology and data-driven growth on Shopify.
Frequently asked questions about UX/UI for Shopify
What makes Shopify design different from general web design?
A Shopify design meets a fixed data model of products, variants, collections and metafields. Designing against it produces special-case logic in the theme. The checkout adds another constraint: it is largely predefined and can only be adapted within set boundaries, which rules out some layout ideas early.
Do we need a new theme or is a redesign on the existing one enough?
The state of the code decides that, not the wish for a new look. If the theme is cleanly structured and only looks dated, a redesign on the existing base is enough. If templates are layered with years of special cases and app leftovers, a new theme is usually cheaper than repair.
How do the design system and theme settings relate?
A design system that only lives in Figma drifts apart after the first sprint. We store colour roles, type scale and spacing as theme settings and CSS variables. Changes then run through the theme editor and take effect everywhere at once, without anyone touching templates.
Do you test designs with real users?
For anything beyond a single click, yes. Variant pickers, configurators, filters and pre-checkout steps get judged in a clickable prototype with people from your audience. For detail questions on a live page, an A/B test from the CRO side is a more honest answer than a round of opinions.
How does accessibility enter the design?
As a requirement on the design, not as an audit afterwards. Contrast values, focus styles, target sizes for touch, visible labels and a sensible heading hierarchy are fixed in the design system. Retrofitting the same result costs a multiple - and usually forces visual compromises.
Can you work alongside our existing design team?
Yes. We often take the Shopify-specific part: translating the brand into theme building blocks, states, edge cases and the handover to development. Brand direction then stays with your team or your lead agency. All we need is clarity about who decides what.
Does your store still match your brand?
We look at your theme, your templates and your numbers and tell you whether a redesign, an optimisation or nothing at all is the right next step.
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