Shaking up the traditional conference playbook.
Conferences exist to help people connect, but often fall into the same old tropes: boring keynotes, beige carpet, rinse-and-repeat-everythings. So when Shopify asked us to design an event for 8,000+ employees, developers and partners from 48 countries, we knew we had to throw out the conference playbook and reimagine what an event like this could be from the ground up.
Over 3 venues, 4 days, and 1.42 million square feet, we took a human-to-human approach and focused on giving Shopifolk what they need to hack harder, engage longer, and feel more connected to their coworkers, company, and culture than ever before.
Every element was strategically designed to reinforce the same story: Shopify is built to support merchants from idea to first sale to full scale. The experience leaned into the physicality of commerce – designs drew inspiration from packing tape, shipping labels, and crates – while activations brought to life the places where small business dreams often begin: from basement workspaces to garages to local bars.
