Turning boring into bonkers: Inside the design process of Winter '25 Edition

Turning boring into bonkers: Inside the design process of Winter '25 Edition

by Innovate Group in eCommerce

Every six months, we ship a new Shopify Edition, a fresh version of Shopify that celebrates our latest launches and updates. This Edition is different.

We’re not releasing new products. Instead, we’re improving the features merchants and developers already know and love. We made them faster, more performant, and unified with the rest of Shopify. These updates are in direct response to what merchants tell us they need to run their businesses.

We called it boring. It’s anything but. The Winter ’25 Edition site leans into boring in a fresh and creative way—built by a team empowered to push the boundaries of Shopify’s platform.

Here’s how they did it.

Anything but boring

Because Shopify made the bold choice to improve existing features, this posed a creative problem: there was nothing new or flashy to anchor the story. Instead of doing the expected, the team tackled boring head on. “Great software should be so elegant that it frictionlessly supports your experience of using it every single day,” says design director Maggie Fost.

The team took inspiration from the roots of basic web design (think Craigslist) to present boring updates in the simplest way. But Shopify is anything but boring. To demonstrate this side of the brand, her team created an alternate universe. Toggling to non-boring on the site, updates are now presented in technicolor: weird, wonderful, and powered by AI. 

These opposites represent two truths about Shopify: software that’s invisible in its elegance—and the wild, limitless ambition of the people behind it. This potent combination means the possibilities are endless for those who build on Shopify. 

“We're being exactly who we are and pushing the technical chops as far as we can,” says product marketing director Emma Horner. “There's something that feels really right and exciting about that.”

The tech that ties it together

The creative team used Midjourney to create images to inspire each video before bringing on other tools to layer in script, sound, and motion. “We're getting better at making these videos by leveraging the limitations of the technology to make it funny,” says Maggie. The resulting 150+ videos are bizarre in the best way.

“I love that this is imperfect technology,” says Maggie. “The outputs feel goofy in a way that I hope we laugh about a year from now.”

Cutting-edge technology was employed at every step—including Shopify’s own. Each of the last four Editions were built as Hydrogen stores, a fact that’s been relatively invisible until now. This time around, site visitors can actually buy a product right on the Edition site, checking out with Shopify.

Teamwork 🤝 dreamwork

Every aspect of the Boring Edition was created in-house. From design through development—including motion design, content, and marketing—this project represents the value Shopify places on experimentation. “This work is a testament to having a nimble team that’s leaning all the way forward,” says Maggie.

Each Edition’s ideation process sees concepts move quickly from visual ideas into real prototypes. This is only possible with developers embedded on the team. It’s the only way for the team to fully understand how the experience will land. This Edition was no different. In fact, the team did more prototyping than usual to understand how the far-out nature of the concept could work. 

A gif prototype of a previous version of the Boring page
This Easter egg was created in an early prototype: hovering over the letters in "boring" reveals those letters within the content, with a sound effect.

“Boring is a theme that isn’t without risk,” Emma says. “It felt really important that we land it properly.” 

Despite this integration of multiple skillsets working together to bring each Edition to life, the team is small and tight-knit. That way, everyone is confidently building toward a shared vision, with key stakeholders looped in at strategic times. 

“I'm extremely intentional about fostering the right habitat and culture for this kind of creativity,” says Maggie. “It sometimes means the door to our virtual studio is closed so the team can take risks without interruption. Sometimes the work has to be bad before it’s good.”

Creativity unleashed

Boring wouldn’t have been possible had it been constrained by too many parameters. “The direction from day one was basically, ‘Fuck around and find out,’” says Emma. “There are no rules in this game other than build something incredible that’s valuable to merchants.”

Of course the project still had goals. It needed to convey that Shopify is innovating fast to bring value to merchants. It demanded accessibility and flashes of delight. And, it had to feel truly of the moment. “I want whatever we make in December 2024 to be something we would not have been able to make in June of 2024,” says Maggie.

“We are very lucky to have not just room to take risks but a mandate to take risks,” says Maggie. Ultimately the true creative potential of the team is realized with the fewest parameters possible.

Meet Boring

Despite having a lean team and ever-evolving inputs, the bar has been raised. “We are an enormously creative company that empowers people to take big swings,” says Maggie. Explore the Winter ’25 Edition to discover 150+ updates, some unexpected surprises, and a visual feast—all built on Shopify.

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