- January 10, 2011
Accounting for Taste
- @kevinsharon
- Design Director
Perhaps you’ve stood in line at Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream and said,
“What flavor of ice cream do I want today?”
You’ve probably all wished, as I have, that you could have a dozen flavors at once. Thankfully, someone, possibly Messrs. Ben & Jerry, invented that tiny ice cream spoon. Sample just a taste to see if that flavor suits your mood.
When Shopify approached Happy Cog to create a theme for their template store, we asked, “what kind of store are we in the mood for?” A slick environment where one could sell iPad and iPhone cases? Or a more organic, crafty storefront for otherworldly terrariums? Antique toys? Lamps made from flea market treasures?
The answer to each question was a resounding “yes”. We wanted to create the kind of store our friends and families would love to fill with amazing, one-of-kind stuff.
With that in mind, we’re proud to introduce Cogify, a Cog-themed Shopify template with four presets to suit any mood. Cogify is simple to implement, easy to customize, and carefully crafted using only our finest handmade HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Each theme is built around a different mood associated with an iconic form of transportation. Inspired by the London subway system, Underground is ideal for bespoke axes or handmade fishing flies. Feeling like a Dutch pedal pusher? Gazelle will suit your felted necklaces or silkscreened totes. If you’re in the need for supersonic speed, Concorde will show off laser-cut bamboo iPhone cases or Polish movie posters beautifully. And for the little ones and their classic wagons, Flyer is, you know, for kids!
One of Shopify’s many great features is the ability for shop owners to create as many or as few configuration settings to customize their stores and set the right mood. In the spirit of responsible development, we strove for a good balance of having all the essential configuration options without adding unnecessary complexity. Rather than less is more, just enough is more.
We also wanted to create an operator’s manual for our new vehicles, so thorough documentation is included right out of the box. For every configurable setting, there are instructions to walk shop owners through customization. Simply put, if it created the ideal set-up experience for a new shop owner, we made sure to put it in the manual in step-by-step, easy-to-follow guidelines.
We hope you’ll be inspired by our work and create amazing things to put in your storefronts. If you had a store today, what would you like to sell? I’d sell Dippin’ Dots, the future of ice cream. No little spoons required!
Check out Cogify at the Shopify theme store and let us know what you think!