Shopify partner agency. Book a free strategy call and scope your project.
Starhead Digital
Get in touch

Shopify designer

Hire a Shopify designer who designs for how stores get built

Work with a designer who knows your brand and Shopify’s theme system equally well. You get layouts that feel right on a phone, turn into editable sections without surprises, and keep working long after launch.

Hire an expert

Brands we have designed for

FellerOcean State of MindPrince + BroomeSupa SuppsBeholderBodaLove by LilyLuna & WillowMovereRawwBahiaSalus SaunasMi AmorKartelRitzyWear This Not That

Why hire a Shopify designer and not a general web designer

When you hire a Shopify designer, you are paying for more than taste. A storefront is a set of templates that repeat across hundreds of products, and each one has moving parts a brochure site never has: variant pickers, collection filters, cart drawers, sold-out states, discount messages and the theme editor your team will use every week. A designer who has never seen those parts tends to draw pages that look finished in Figma and fall apart once real products, long titles and a 4G connection arrive.

Our designers sit inside the same team as Starhead developers. They plan every page as Online Store 2.0 sections and blocks, build a component library instead of one-off artboards, and check ideas with a developer before you see them. That keeps the design honest about what Shopify can do natively, what needs an app and what needs custom code, so the build quote and the design agree with each other.

The result is a store that looks like your brand on day one and is still easy to run in month twelve, when your merchandiser builds a new landing page from the same sections without asking anyone for help.

  • Brand-led visual direction rooted in your existing identity
  • Mobile-first layouts checked on real phones, not only a resized browser
  • Figma components that map one to one onto theme sections
  • Accessibility considered from the first wireframe
  • A developer in the review loop before anything reaches you

Bring a brand guide if you have one; if you do not, we will help shape the visual direction first.

Talk to us

What you can hire a Shopify designer for

Some brands need a full storefront. Others need one template fixed properly. These are the pieces of work our designers take on most often.

  • Full storefront design

    Homepage, collection, product, cart, search, account and content templates designed together as one system. Used for new stores and complete redesigns where every template needs to change.

  • Product page design

    Gallery, variant selection, price and offer messaging, delivery promise, size or spec details and reviews arranged around the questions shoppers actually ask. This is usually the highest-value template in the store.

  • Collection and filter layouts

    Grid density, product card content, sorting and filter placement on mobile and desktop. We design for the filters Shopify Search & Discovery can generate from your product data.

  • Navigation and mega menus

    Menu structure based on how customers shop, such as by style, use or occasion, rather than how the warehouse is organized. Includes mobile menu patterns and the search experience.

  • Cart drawer and cart page

    Line item layout, free shipping progress, upsells that do not crowd the checkout button, and clear notes on discounts and delivery. Small changes here affect every order.

  • Checkout branding

    Logo, colors, typography and layout choices inside Shopify’s checkout and accounts editor. On Shopify Plus we can also design checkout UI extensions such as extra fields or trust content.

  • Landing and campaign pages

    Reusable layouts for launches, collaborations, seasonal sales and paid traffic. Built from existing sections so your team can assemble the next campaign without new design work.

  • Design systems in Figma

    Type scale, color tokens, spacing, buttons, form fields, badges and product cards documented with variants and usage notes. The system is what keeps page fifty consistent with page one.

  • Wireframes and UX prototypes

    Low-fidelity layouts and clickable prototypes to test structure and flow before visual design starts. Cheaper to change a gray box than a polished page.

  • Theme customization design

    Adapting a Shopify Theme Store theme to your brand when a fully custom design is more than you need now. We design within the theme’s sections and flag where custom ones would help.

  • Brand extension for web

    Turning a logo, palette and print guidelines into digital rules: interactive states, icon style, image treatment and motion. Most brand books stop short of what a storefront needs.

  • Email and on-site assets

    Klaviyo or Shopify Email templates, banners, badges and promotional graphics that match the storefront. Keeps the brand consistent from inbox to product page.

What good Shopify design work looks like

A short guide to judging any designer you are thinking of hiring, including ours.

It is designed as sections, not pages

Online Store 2.0 themes are built from sections, and sections are built from blocks. A homepage is really a stack of sections your team can reorder, duplicate or hide in the theme editor. Good Shopify design starts from that fact. Instead of drawing a single beautiful homepage, the designer defines a set of sections such as a hero, a featured collection, an image with text, a testimonial row and a comparison block, then shows how they combine on different pages.

This matters for cost as well as flexibility. Every unique layout becomes a section someone has to build, test and maintain. A designer who reuses a well-made section in three places instead of inventing three similar ones saves development time and gives your team fewer things to learn. When you review a portfolio, ask to see the component library behind the pages, not only the polished screens.

Mobile first is a layout decision

For most consumer brands the majority of visits come from phones, so the phone layout is the real design and the desktop layout is the adaptation. That changes decisions early: how much of the product gallery shows before the price, whether the add to cart button stays visible while scrolling, how filters open, and how long a product title can be before it wraps badly.

We design the mobile version of each key template first and test it with real content at actual phone sizes. Desktop then gets the extra room for editorial layouts and larger imagery. Designs that start on a wide artboard and shrink later almost always push important content too far down the screen.

Product pages are designed around decisions

A product page has one job: give a shopper enough confidence to add the item to their cart. The order of content should follow the order of their doubts. For apparel that means fit and returns; for skincare it means ingredients and use; for furniture it means dimensions and delivery. A generic template that puts a long description first and the delivery promise at the bottom ignores how people decide.

Our designers work from your support questions, return reasons and review content to decide what goes above the fold, what sits in tabs or accordions, and what belongs in a size guide or comparison drawer. We also plan the data behind each element, such as metafields for specs, so the layout fills itself consistently across the catalog.

Accessibility and performance are design choices

Color contrast, focus states, tap target size, readable type and clear error messages are set in the design file. Fixing them after launch means reopening templates that are already live. We check contrast on every text and background pair, design visible keyboard focus, and avoid text baked into images.

Performance starts in design too. A homepage with six autoplaying videos, three carousels and a custom font in four weights will be slow however well it is coded. We design with image sizes, font loading and the number of third-party widgets in mind, and talk through the trade-off when a visual idea carries a real speed cost.

What you receive when the design is done

Every project ends with files your team owns and developers can build from without guessing.

Research and structure

  • Summary of analytics and behavior findings
  • Sitemap and navigation plan
  • Wireframes for each key template
  • Content priorities for product pages

Visual direction

  • Type pairing and scale
  • Color palette with contrast checks
  • Photography and image treatment guidance
  • Icon and illustration style

Figma design system

  • Components with variants and auto layout
  • Buttons, inputs, badges and product cards
  • Spacing and grid rules
  • Usage notes for each component

Page templates

  • Mobile and desktop layouts for every template
  • Empty, sold-out and error states
  • Cart drawer and search results
  • Account and policy pages

Developer handoff

  • Annotated Figma file mapped to sections and blocks
  • Interaction notes for hover, focus and loading
  • Image crop ratios and sizes
  • List of metafields the design depends on

After launch

  • Design review of the build on a preview theme
  • Guide for building new pages from sections
  • Backlog of improvements for later phases

How our Shopify design process runs

You see the structure and direction early, so there are no surprises at the final review.

Hire an expert
  1. 01Discover

    Learn the brand and the buyer

    We review your brand, products, customers, analytics and support questions. We also note where shoppers struggle on the current store today.

  2. 02Structure

    Wireframe the key templates

    Low-fidelity wireframes set content order and navigation for homepage, collection and product pages. Agreeing structure first avoids rework later.

  3. 03Direction

    Set the visual style

    We apply a visual direction to one or two key templates, covering type, color, imagery and components. You give feedback before we design the rest.

  4. 04System

    Design the full system

    Remaining templates and states are designed for mobile and desktop from shared components. A developer reviews them for build feasibility as we go.

  5. 05Handoff

    Prepare files for the build

    We annotate the Figma file with section mapping, interactions and data needs. Developers get a walkthrough rather than a link and a hope.

  6. 06Review

    Check the build and support launch

    The designer reviews the theme on a preview link, logs differences and signs off details. After launch we can stay on for ongoing design work.

Freelancer, in-house or agency designer

Each option suits a different stage. This is an honest comparison, including where an agency is not the right fit.

Freelance designerIn-house designerStarhead designer
Time to startFast if available, depends on their calendarSlow, needs recruiting and onboardingUsually quick after a scoping call
Shopify knowledgeVaries widely, check their store workGrows over time inside your teamDaily work on Shopify themes
Design system thinkingDepends on the individualStrong once establishedComponent library on every project
Developer handoffOften separate from the build teamClose if developers are also in-houseDevelopers in the same team and reviews
Review and QAUsually self-reviewedDepends on team sizeSecond designer and developer review
Cover for leave or illnessWork pausesWork pausesAnother designer can step in
Scaling up or downLimited to one personFixed headcountAdjust between dedicated, part-time or project
Brand immersionModerateDeepest over timeStrong with regular overlap and shared files
Best forSmall, well-defined tasksConstant, brand-wide design needsStore redesigns and ongoing Shopify design

Many brands combine options, for example an in-house brand designer with a Starhead designer for storefront work.

Ways to hire Shopify designers with us

Design work comes in bursts for some brands and constantly for others. Pick the model that matches yours and change it later if needed.

  • Defined scope

    Project-based design

    A redesign, new store design or a set of templates with agreed deliverables and review rounds. Best when you know what needs to change and want a fixed outcome.

  • Constant flow

    Dedicated designer

    A designer working on your store full time for campaigns, new sections and continuous improvement. They learn your brand deeply and attend your planning calls.

  • Regular updates

    Part-time designer

    A share of a designer’s week for landing pages, banners and smaller layout changes. Suits brands with a steady but modest flow of requests.

  • Design and build

    Designer plus developer

    A designer paired with a Starhead developer so new sections go from Figma to the live theme quickly. Removes the gap between design approval and release.

  • Quick start

    Single template sprint

    Start with one high-value template, often the product page, to see how we work before a larger commitment. The sprint output feeds straight into a fuller system later.

  • Ongoing care

    Design reviews

    Periodic reviews of pages your own team has built, checking spacing, type and component use against the system. Keeps the store consistent as more people edit it.

Design projects that show the approach

Real stores where our designers set the visual direction and the developers built it. Each project page has the full brief and outcome.

Movere Shopify store

Shopify Redesign, Rebranding

Movere

  • UX and UI Design
  • Custom Shopify Theme Development
  • Shopify Search & Discovery
  • Judge.me Reviews Integration
  • Klaviyo integration
The problem
A brand built on intention, quality, and effortless movement needed a digital home that felt the same way. The store MOVERE needed at launch had to do three things at once. Mirror the elevated positioning of the brand. Put…
What we built
One rule sat at the center of the build. Let the product lead. Design came first. A minimal layout, generous whitespace, restrained typography, and a neutral palette gave every piece the room it needed to feel premium…
The result
MOVERE now has a digital flagship that lives up to the brand behind it. Elevated, fast, effortless across every device. Product discovery is sharper, built around how real customers actually browse. Trust signals land earlier in…
Read the case study
The Perfect Biquini(Bossa) Shopify store

Shopify Development

The Perfect Biquini(Bossa)

  • UX/UI Design
  • Custom Shopify Theme Development
  • Performance Enhancement
  • Shopify Search & Discovery
  • Judge.me Product Reviews App
The problem
The brand's original online store failed to reflect its high-quality, artisanal identity. The website had a generic, cluttered design that diluted the premium customer experience. The stunning product photography was undermined…
What we built
Our solution was to develop a “digital atelier” concept, building a custom Shopify theme that functioned as a clean, immersive gallery for the product. We implemented a minimalist, narrative-driven design, featuring a fluid…
The result
The new site successfully mirrors the brand’s quality, improving engagement and trust. The minimalist design reduced bounce rates and increased session times. Streamlined navigation and fast pages improved the path to purchase…
Read the case study
Ritzy Shopify store

Shopify Redesign

Ritzy

  • UX/UI Design
  • Theme Development
  • Shopify Search & Discovery
The problem
RITZY's growing retail presence and expanding international audience demanded a digital storefront that could match the brand's premium, culture-forward identity. The existing online experience lacked the visual refinement and…
What we built
We built RITZY's Shopify store development with a design language rooted in refinement, warmth, and cultural resonance. The layout was structured to foreground the brand's high-quality product photography, with clean typographic…
The result
The redesigned Shopify store gave RITZY a digital presence worthy of its status as a recognised Emirati jewellery brand. By translating the brand's in-store elegance into a fluid, performance-optimised online experience, the…
Read the case study
BODA Shopify store

Shopify Development

BODA

  • UX/UI Design
  • Theme Development
  • Performance Enhancement
  • Shopify Search & Discovery
  • Judge.me Product Reviews App
The problem
BODA approached us with the goal of a complete full website redesign, aiming for a visually appealing brand aesthetic that would resonate with their customers.
What we built
We worked on several elements of BODA's store, including color, typography, and imagery, while also restructuring many of the site's core pages. Our work preserved the brand's integrity while creating a new UX that was designed…
The result
The new website for BODA successfully captures the essence of its "Functional Luxury" brand. The updated design and improved user experience have created a sophisticated digital presence that reflects the quality of their…
Read the case study

Signs your store needs a designer now

These are the problems that most often bring brands to us. Each one has a design fix that does not require starting from zero.

  • Every page looks slightly different

    Years of edits by different people leave mismatched buttons, fonts and spacing. A component system and a cleanup pass restore consistency.

  • The theme no longer fits the brand

    The brand has moved on but the store still looks like the theme demo. A brand-led redesign of key templates closes the gap.

  • Mobile visitors leave quickly

    Content that matters sits below several screens of imagery on phones. Reordering templates for mobile usually helps more than new visuals.

  • Product pages create support emails

    Customers ask about fit, materials or delivery before buying. Designing those answers into the page reduces both questions and hesitation.

  • Campaigns take weeks to launch

    Each promotion needs a developer because there are no reusable layouts. A set of flexible campaign sections hands that work back to your team.

  • Too many apps, too little coherence

    Popups, badges and widgets from different apps each bring their own styling. We design their placement and appearance as part of the system.

  • A rebrand is coming

    New logo, palette and tone need to reach every template, email and checkout. Planning that rollout as one design project avoids a half-updated store.

  • Conversion research needs action

    An audit has found problems but nobody has designed the fixes. We turn findings into tested layouts ready to build.

Working with a Shopify designer from India

Getting started is straightforward. After a short call we share relevant work, agree scope and review rounds, and set up a shared Figma workspace that belongs to you from the first day. We ask for brand assets, store access with collaborator permissions and any analytics, so the designer understands how the brand should feel and where the current store loses people.

Our team works on India Standard Time, UTC+5:30. We agree a regular overlap slot for live reviews, and the rest happens asynchronously through Figma comments and short written updates. For teams in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, that often means feedback sent at the end of your day is reflected in the file by your next working session.

  • Figma files you own, with edit access for your team
  • Agreed review rounds and a named point of contact
  • Live walkthroughs in an agreed overlap window
  • NDA available before you share confidential plans

If you also need the store built, the designer works directly with our developers, so nothing gets lost between design and code.

Hire an expert

Reading before you hire

Background on conversion, budgets and working with a Shopify team.

Testimonials

What brands say about our design work

5.0from 8 client reviews

  • From creation of my site to working with them after for updates and changes to my site. The team goes above and beyond. Their communication, service and attention to detail is very good. They are wonderful to work with and very helpful with questions. I have found a team who believes in growth, creativity and good work ethic. Appreciate Starhead for always supporting our team!

    Alisha

    Ritzy

  • We are so happy with Starhead. They did an exceptional job at helping us create a new website with our new branding. We especially appreciate the good communication, the attention to details, the understanding and proactiveness. I am so happy we chose Starhead to help us, and 10/10 recommend them. We will continue to work with them in the future. Thank you so much for your work!

    Solveige Itervag

    Movere

  • ABSOLUTELY BEYOND AMAAZZING I HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND Prashant and Gaurav were super professional and kind. Their #1 goal is deliver everything you as the customer envision. Super detailed, very responsive, cares about the client Starhead Digital made every thing come true that i dream about having for my website I Definitely will be using Starhead Digital in future projects

    Julia

    Ocean State of Mind

  • It was a pleasure to work with Starhead Digital. They delivered the website extremely quick while also exceeding expectations of what we wanted. They ensured we were satisfied and were very communicative throughout the whole process. I will definitely be working with them again for any other projects, or even a website refresh. If you are looking for amazing quality work at a very reasonable price, I completely recommend!

    Chris

    Supa Supps

  • Very professional and focussed on exactly meeting my expectations. Any specifications I gave them they fully fulfilled or had an answer. I got quick replies to my questions at any time of the day and their communication in English is probably better than mine ';).
    Fully satisfied!

    Felix Brosi

    The Perfect Biquini(Bossa)

  • Working with Starheadtech was an absolute pleasure! They built and optimized our Shopify store beautifully — seamlessly integrating Google, TikTok, and Klaviyo. Their clear communication, problem-solving mindset, and clean custom coding truly stood out. Fast, professional, and genuinely results-driven. We're thrilled with our new site and can't recommend him enough!

    Jessica

    Love by Lilly

  • The team at Starhead digital was amazing to work with. They captured all the details I needed for an operational website. They were quick, understood the task, and even went above and beyond of the requirements. Thanks Prashant & team, would love to work with them again and recommend them to others.

    Sebastian

    Ina Malibu

  • Starhead Digital successfully helped us to migrate from Magento to Shopify. It was a great experience to work with them. The whole process was very much organize and smooth. The team was highly responsive, and internal stakeholders were particularly impressed with the Starhead Digital.

    Amy

    Salus Saunas

Related services

Design work connects closely with research, build and ongoing support.

Common FAQs

Frequently asked questions

  • What does a Shopify designer do?

    A Shopify designer plans and designs how your store looks and works, from navigation and product pages to the cart, checkout branding and campaign pages. A good one designs within Shopify’s sections and blocks so the result is practical to build and easy for your team to edit.

  • Why hire a Shopify designer instead of using a theme as-is?

    Hire a Shopify designer when a theme as-is does not reflect your brand, does not fit how your customers shop, or has been edited into inconsistency. A designer can also customize a premium theme, which is often a sensible step before a fully custom design.

  • How quickly can a Shopify designer start?

    It depends on the scope and the engagement model. After a scoping call we confirm a start date in the proposal, and single template sprints can usually begin sooner than a full redesign.

  • How much does it cost to hire a Shopify designer?

    Cost depends on the number of templates, the depth of research, and whether you need a dedicated, part-time or project-based designer. Share your scope and we will send a clear written proposal before any work starts.

  • Do your Shopify designers use Figma?

    Yes. All design work happens in Figma, in files you own, with a component library that developers can follow and your team can reuse for future pages.

  • Can I hire a Shopify designer just for a redesign?

    Yes. A project-based engagement covers a full or partial redesign with agreed deliverables and review rounds. You can keep a designer on afterwards if ongoing work comes up, but there is no obligation.

  • Will the designer work with my existing developers?

    Yes. We hand over annotated Figma files mapped to sections and blocks, walk your developers through them and can review their build on a preview theme. If you need developers, ours can build it.

  • Do your designers handle UX as well as visual design?

    Yes. Our designers cover research, information architecture, wireframes and prototypes as well as visual design. On larger projects we may split the work between two designers with different strengths.

  • Can you design a full brand identity or only the store?

    Our focus is the storefront and the digital extension of your brand. We regularly extend an existing identity for the web and can help shape a visual direction if you have none, and we will be clear if a dedicated branding studio would serve you better.

  • Do your designers write copy for the store?

    We write functional microcopy such as button labels, empty states, error messages and short section headings as part of the design. Long-form product and brand copy should come from you or a copywriter, and we design around it.

  • What should I prepare before I hire a Shopify designer?

    Share brand guidelines if you have them, product photography, examples of stores you admire, and any analytics, reviews or customer feedback. Rough material is fine; it helps us start from your reality rather than assumptions.

Get started

Design a store that feels like your brand

Tell us about your brand and what needs to change. We will suggest a designer and the right way to work together.

Hire an expertSee our work
Let’s talk