Explore every episode of the podcast Inside Shopify UX

Host Lola Oyelayo-Pearson introduces co-host UX Director Sadia Latifi to reveal the design process behind Shopify Editions.

Full transcript. 

Sadia speaks with UX Director Maggie Fost, Design Lead Stephanie Chan, and Senior Staff Product Designer, Jordan Ouellette about the origins and process for launching the creative for Shopify Editions, taking a deep dive into the Figma files.  

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.    

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.    

Join us: shopify.com/careers/ux    

Credits:
Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing
Assisted by Alison Harshbarger, UX Community Specialist, and Stephanie Chace, Expansion Pack for Administration
Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host and UX director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks with Senior UX Managers Katarina Batina and Matt Griffin about the development of Shop and Shop Pay.   

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.    

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.    

Join us: shopify.com/careers/ux    

Credits: Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing
Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator
Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, Senior Marketing UX Designer Marina Verdu, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host and UX director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks with senior staff product researchers, Heather McGaw and Chris Nicholson about how the practice of research at Shopify UX has changed in the last year. We cover the shift from UX to product research, the power of research to steer decision-making, and the optimism of critical inquiry and strategic foresight.    

Full transcript. 

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.  

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.  

Join us: shopify.com/careers/ux  

Credits: Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing
Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator
Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, Senior Marketing UX Designer Marina Verdu, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host and UX director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks with our VP of UX Cynthia Savard Saucier about the skills and mindset that are necessary to be successful at Shopify UX. We cover broadening your T, designing the recruitment process, and leading with trust.   

Full transcript: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-s2-e10-6fda10ea72c6  

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.  

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.  

Join us: shopify.com/careers/ux  

Credits: Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing
Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, Senior Marketing UX Designer Marina Verdu, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host and UX director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks to Aditi Kulkarni and Farai Madzima about designing for different cultures, and why designers need to evolve the idea of good design beyond a Western-centric point of view.   

Full transcript: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-s2-e08-bridging-culture-in-design-b20e3c694597

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.  

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.  

Join us: shopify.com/careers/ux  

Credits: Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing
Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator
Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host and UX director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson discusses the internship experience with former interns, now full-time product designers, Jayson Tan, Sophia Deng, and Nwando Nwafor. They share their insights from their time as interns and advice for anyone considering taking the leap to start a career in UX.

Full transcript.

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.

Credits:

Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing

Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator

Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator

Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani

With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host UX Director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks with UX Director Sadia Latifi, UX Director Monika Piotrowicz, and Senior UX Ops Manager Jen Rogers about leading UX at scale at Shopify. 

Full transcript. 

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.

Credits:

Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing

Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator

Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator

Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani

With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host UX Director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks with Content Designer Shay Perez and Senior Accessibility Specialist Scott Vinkle about creating equitable experiences for everyone.

Full transcript

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.

Credits:

Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing

Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator

Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator

Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani

With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host UX Director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson chats to Senior UX Manager Christine Zoltok and Staff Service Designer Roxi Nicolussi about finding flexibility in complexity.   

Full transcript: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-s2-ep04-7fd3cd0d666
TL;DL? Read the blog-post summary: https://ux.shopify.com/designing-complex-systems-abfa43bb9408

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.  

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.  

Subscribe to our channel for the latest episodes!  Or listen on your favorite podcast app or via Anchor: https://anchor.fm/inside-shopify-ux

Credits:
Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing   
Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator
Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani  
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host UX Director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson chats to CEO and founder Tobi Lütke about UX at Shopify.   

Full transcript.  
TL;DL? Read the blog-post summary.   

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.  

Listen to learn more about the complex UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for entrepreneurs to thrive.  

Credits: Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing   
Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator
Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, Senior Marketing UX Deisgner Marina Verdu, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani  
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host UX Director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson chats to UX Director Yesenia Perez-Cruz and Principal Designer Roy Stanfield about the tension between UX and visual design.

TL;DL? Read the blog post summary.
Read the full transcript.

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions. Listen to learn more about the meaty UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for independent businesses to thrive.  

Credits:
Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing   
Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator
Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, Senior Marketing UX Designer Marina Verdu, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani  
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Host UX Director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson chats to UX Director Gavin Harvey and UX Manager Owen Williams about designing developer experiences, including:

Should designers code?
Designing for developers is like designing for kids
Dev ops over developer destinations
How do you prepare teams to design for devs?  
Lo/no code is controversial and how to design for different levels of skill
The retro energy of Shopify.dev
Building the spirit into Hydrogen

Full transcript.

The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions. Listen to learn more about the meaty UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for independent businesses to thrive.   

Credits:
Produced by Jen Shaw, UX Communications and Marketing   
Assisted by Isabelle Hamel Carassi, Merchant Services Coordinator
Edited by Michael Busse, Technical Production Operator
Artwork by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux, Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann, and Broadcast Motion Graphics Artist Trevor Silvani
With music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin (silentquietspaces.com)

Introducing Season 2 of the Inside Shopify UX podcast hosted by UX Director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson — available in January 2022 to watch as well as listen to.   

Shopify is building the future of commerce, but who are the people building it? The Inside Shopify UX podcast introduces some of the leaders and crafters on our UX team and asks them to explain the big commerce problem their team is trying to solve, and gives the real talk on some of the industry's challenges and questions.  

Listen to learn more about the meaty UX challenges our team is solving and how we're making it easier for independent businesses to thrive.  

Credits: Produced by Technical Production Operator Michael Busse Graphics and branding by Senior Illustrator Alisha Giroux Fortune teller design by Senior Culture Designer Dani Chavez Ackermann Music by Senior UX Manager Matt Griffin  Scheduling by Merchant Services Coordinator Isabelle Hamel Carassi Program management by UX Communications and Marketing Jen Shaw

Many of the unique parts of our UX team show up in our hiring process. From our unique life story interview to our craft pairing interviews, members of our talent acquisition team make a real effort to get to know candidates as people, and give them a glimpse into what it's like to be part of Shopify's UX team.

In this episode our UX recruitment lead Holly Fortier speaks with host Dalia El-Shimy about:

• how our interview process is structured
  
• the different things that interviewers are looking for in a candidate's answer
  
• why we're not looking for a specific type of experience
  
• how the team feels about cover letters
  

The full transcript is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-12-ux-hiring-at-shopify-998f4238e6b6

Discovering products, tracking orders, and simplifying checkouts are some of the highest-impact ways that Shopify helps merchants succeed. All of them are covered by the Shop app, one of the most downloaded shopping apps in the Apple and Google app stores.

In this episode our senior UX manager for Shop Jess Erickson speaks with host Dalia El-Shimy about:

• what it's like to build for buyers instead of merchants
  
• what's important when building native e-commerce experiences
  
• balancing speed vs. quality when designing a new product
  
• how her team is structured and the experiences that help people succeed
  

The full transcript is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-11-shop-4f70c9be8838

Fulfilling orders can be one of the most frustrating and time-consuming tasks an online merchant has on their plate. That's why Shopify launched the Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN) to remove that burden from merchants and let them focus on the parts of their business they do best.

In this episode our senior UX manager Vadim Tslaf speaks with host Dalia El-Shimy about:

• how SFN assumes this challenging responsibility for merchants
• how the team thinks about building trust with merchants and suppliers
  
• how building a product from scratch differs from working on a more mature product
• the unique UX challenges of designing a product that spans both software and hardware
  

The full transcript is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/episode-10-shopify-fulfillment-network-cfce79de19

Selling outside of your home country can be one of the most challenging things for businesses to manage, but can be an essential part of growth. At Shopify, our UX team is working to make the process of selling across borders as simple and seamless as possible.

In this episode our UX director Alaine Mackenzie speaks with host Dalia El-Shimy about:

• the most common challenges that merchants have when selling internationally
  
• the UX challenges behind designing for multiple currencies, international payment methods, localization and translation, and duties and customs
  
• how her team thinks about moving along the spectrum of making something possible, making it easy, and making it magical
  
• how working with data analysts has changed how she thinks about UX
  

The full transcript is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-9-selling-across-borders-1bd855613469

The Shopify Money team aims to reshape financial services by empowering Shopify merchants at every stage of their business. They do so by building and growing products like Shopify Capital and Shopify Balance.

In this episode our UX manager for Banking Becky Kanach-Quade speaks with host Kevin Clark about:

• what Shopify Balance is and what it will help business owners to do
  
• how to scale up your knowledge (and your team's) in an unfamiliar product area
  
• how her team thinks about design strategy for FinTech
  
• her career path from medical illustrations to financial products
  

The full transcript is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-8-shopify-money-ec2025319f7

Our UX director for Core products, Amy Thibodeau, has taken a winding path career path. Starting in arts organizations and then becoming an early member of Facebook's content strategy team, then starting at Shopify as a discipline lead before quickly leading a cross-disciplinary project (the launch of our Polaris design system) to becoming a cross-functional leader. Along the way, she's learned a lot about what it takes to be successful in growing your career in UX.

She and host Kevin Clark talk about:

• The power of positive discontent
• How to talk yourself into raising your hand for projects that stretch you
• Trusting your team
• What's wrong with taking a "culture fit" approach

The full transcript of the conversation can be found at: https://medium.com/p/a765fbaec5fb/edit

Leadership within the Shopify UX team is a journey that has many paths. We have multiple leadership tracks and responsibilities can look different depending on who you are and what your strengths are. Learning what kind of leader you are is a key skill.

To explore this topic, host Kevin Clark sits down with UX director and experience architect Kyle Peatt to discuss:

• The difference between management and leadership
• Why many leaders at Shopify are on a continuum somewhere between people leadership and leading through craft
• Great questions for leaders to ask their team
• Why we hire "weird shaped people"
  
  

The full transcript of this episode is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-6-ux-leadership-5e8d5ff6d3ea

Our Polaris design system was created to align us in building great experiences for Shopify businesses.

In this episode, UX director Yesenia Perez-Cruz sits down with senior UX manager Kevin Clark to talk about the origins of the system, the philosophy that drives it, and how it's evolving. Plus:

• what the "trip wires" are for adding to the design system
• how the Polaris team is structured
• what happens if people trust the system too much
• why Polaris has evolved into a "system of systems:

The full transcript of the episode is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-5-polaris-9b0483005b23.

Multi-channel works towards helping merchants with their #1 challenge: growing their sales by marketing and selling on owned and unowned channels. Multi-channel is also the team that manages some of the key product initiatives we have with Shopify's largest partners including Facebook and Google.

In this episode Multi-channel UX director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks with senior designer Veronica Wong about:

• why we are so invested in creating multi-channel experiences for our merchants?
• top skills for a product designer to work in this space
• how running her own online business informs Veronica's work
• the UX challenges of working with major partners

The full transcript is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-4-multichannel-111bf5bc69bd

The Shopify Retail team builds products for businesses that have brick-and-mortar retail stores, focusing on making Shopify the best commerce platform for these retailers. They invest their time on Shopify point-of-sales (POS) software and hardware, as well as cross-Shopify product work that disproportionately impacts retailers.

In this episode Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks with Darrin Henein, the director of UX for Retail at Shopify. They talk about:

• The problem set the Retail team is involved in
• How industrial designers are part of the product design team
• The differences between working on hardware and software
• The team's rituals and processes
• How the length of the hardware design process has influenced the team's software design
• The types of problems the team is interested in working on in the future

The full transcript is available at https://ux.shopify.com/inside-shopify-ux-3-retail-f85efca3fa15.

The Ecosystem team's mission is to help help merchants meet 100% of their needs through apps, themes, and services, and attract new merchants to Shopify to become more successful entrepreneurs. It also aims to help our Shopify Partners around the world make commerce better for everyone.

Our host Lola Oyelayo-Pearson sits down with senior UX manager Elizabeth McGuane to talk about:

• What is the team's working hypothesis and what problems does it tackle?
• The different user groups the team builds for
• How the team works to maintain craft quality
• What the team's North Star is for merchant outcomes
• How the team thinks about international growth
• What makes people successful on the team

In this kickoff episode, our host and UX director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson speaks with our head of UX Cynthia Savard Saucier. They introduce how the UX team at Shopify is set up and dive into a number of ways that the team is unique.

Learn about:

• Our mission and merchant obsession
• Why we don't need to sell anyone on the value of design
• How we embrace radical ownership
• The multiplicity of career paths available to UXers
• Why we value an interdisciplinary approach
• What our "digital by design" approach means and how it's evolving

Full transcript is available at: https://ux.shopify.com/whats-different-about-ux-at-shopify-f61453f17bc

Interested in learning more about Shopify's UX team? Listen to this introduction to our upcoming podcast series from our UX director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson.