Shopify New York Launch

The pandemic drastically altered consumer behaviors, forcing us indoors and driving us even more online. For entrepreneurs in a city like New York, these changes meant doubling down on their hustle to meet consumers where they were. E-commerce flourished, but as restrictions lifted, entrepreneurs needed to find a sense of IRL community again. So Shopify came to us looking for a way to reinvigorate the entrepreneur scene in New York.

We created Shopify New York, a brand new physical space in SoHo, designed to allow entrepreneurs to come together to learn, collaborate, and network. To drive awareness and utility, we built a website to highlight the space, showcase featured entrepreneurs from New York, and allowing people to browse and book services and events.

I led a talented team of two designers through the XD and design efforts on the web experience:

• Synthesizing the client's requirements into an experience concept, sitemap, and content hierarchy
• Presenting two rounds of wireframes and visual designs
• Collaborating with the copy lead to align with the larger campaign
• Conducting detailed reviews and QA with the outside developer on the site build

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Drawing inspiration from the nonstop pace of NYC and entrepreneurship, we imbued the site with motion and activity. We wanted to appeal to visitors by mirroring the activity that would happen in the physical space; the site featured countdowns to events, live feeds of entrepreneurs creating content, and spotlights on featured brands and their products. Working with the outside developer, we brought the site to life on a rapid timeline, launching ahead of opening day and thrilling the client with our results.

While the naysayers were proclaiming New York as dead, we created a thriving platform for local entrepreneurs to prove them wrong. Opening to much fanfare, the space and website continue to serve the New York entrepreneur community today.