Shopify— Milestone Program

Redefining Recognition

For this project, Shopify launched an RFP, reaching out to a plethora of design houses to create a 3-dimensional version of their logo “bag” with a polished/matte contrast that they planned to use as recognition gifts to the store owners for achieving 10,000/100,000/1,000,000 orders.

An important aspect of this project is that the packaging needed to be equally as important as the bag itself.

MATERIALS + METHODS

Several prototypes were made, from CNC-machined aluminum to molded zinc alloy, with finishes ranging from anodized to electroplated. The bag features a mirrored plate for consumers to see their reflection, symbolizing achievement. Shopify's key team visited our facility to review samples, ultimately selecting both aluminum and zinc alloy bags with matte gold/silver anodizing/electroplating, respectively, and white powder coating for the three main tiers.

Due to the nature of the product, these bags need to be dropshipped at any given moment so we needed to utilize a quick way to personalize them, which UV printing was the clear answer to.

Working with clients, I’m always anticipating a project expanding as this one did into many more “bag” projects. The design is slowly but surely becoming an e-commerce icon.

Here, you can see one of the bags being CNC machined at one a manufacturing partners’ facility.

The bags are produced via CNC and through die casting domestically and internationally in order to be able to fulfill a large volume of orders.

See some of the process in the slideshow below

Snapshot of CAD.
Bags being anodized.
More anodizing.
UV printing process.
Placing the mirrored plate.
Snapshot of dielines.

THE PACKAGING

The empathetic design principles run deep within the packaging for this design. Shopify emphasized that unboxing experience should evoke a sense of reward for the consumer’s hard work which led to the “Russian Doll” concept, with each layer delivering a message, one of them being: “Dreamt it, Built it, Did it.”

Working with a client who has the budget for me to utilize several decoration methods such as foil stamping, pre-printing, and screen printing was a highlight for me. These words resonate with those who achieved their dreams - and of course, we had include the debossed microfiber cloth to keep that dream fingerprint-free.

Final Product

A heavy, metal bag electroplated in gold, the Shopify Milestone Program has truly proven to be something that is not only appreciated by the consumers themselves but also by Shopify themselves.

Stemming from this project, I designed an internal recognition program for Shopify’s own employees, using their two green colors - as well as another program to recognize developers with a coding pattern acid etched onto the surface of the stainless steel mirrored plate.

I’ve included a some pictures below of those projects and some from some very happy consumers, which I think should always be the end goal of an project.