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  • Design Has Never Been More Important: Inside Shopify’s Acquisition of Molly

    Design Has Never Been More Important: Inside Shopify’s Acquisition of Molly


    When the conversation turns to artificial intelligence, many assume that design is one of the professions most at risk of automation. But Shopify’s latest move sends a very different message. The e-commerce giant has revived the role of Chief Design Officer earlier this year and acquired Brooklyn-based creative studio Molly — signaling that, far from being diminished, design will sit at the center of its AI strategy.

    At the helm is Carl Rivera, Shopify’s Chief Design Officer, who believes this moment is an inflection point not just for the company, but for the design industry as a whole.

    “At a time when the market is saying maybe you don’t need designers anymore,” Rivera told me, “we’re saying the opposite. They’ve never been more important than they are right now.”

    A Statement of Intent

    Shopify has a long history of treating design as a strategic advantage. In its early days, co-founder Daniel Weinand held the title of Chief Design Officer and helped shape Shopify’s user-first approach. But when Weinand left the company, the role disappeared — until now.

    Bringing it back, Rivera argues, is both symbolic and practical. “It’s really interesting to consider that the moment Shopify decides to reinstate the Chief Design Officer role is at the dawn of AI,” he said. “That’s not a coincidence.”

    For Rivera, design is the best tool for navigating uncertainty. “When you face ambiguity and don’t know where the world is going, there’s no better way to imagine that future than through design,” he explained. “Design turns abstract ideas into something you can hold and touch, so everyone can align on the same vision.”

    Why Molly?

    Central to Shopify’s announcement is the acquisition of Molly, the Brooklyn-based design studio co-founded by Jaytel and Marvin Schwaibold. Known for their experimental but disciplined approach, Molly has collaborated with Shopify in the past.

    Rivera recalled how the deal came together almost organically. “I was having dinner with Marvin, and we were talking about the future I wanted to build at Shopify. The alignment was immediate. It was like — of course we should do this together. We could go faster, go further, and it would be more fun.”

    The studio will operate as an internal agency, but Rivera is careful to stress that Molly won’t exist in isolation. “What attracted me to Molly is not just their output, but their culture,” he said. “That culture is exactly the one we want to spread across Shopify. They’ll be a cultural pillar that helps manifest the ways of working we want everyone to embrace.”

    Importantly, the internal agency won’t replace Shopify’s existing design teams. Instead, it will augment them in moments that call for speed, experimentation, or tackling problems shaped by AI. “If something changes in the market and we need to respond quickly, Molly can embed with a team for a few months, supercharging their generative process,” Rivera explained.

    Redefining AI + Design

    Rivera is energized by the possibilities of AI and how it can transform the way people interact with technology. While today’s implementations often serve as early steps in that journey, he believes the real opportunity lies in what comes next.

    He acknowledges that many current products still treat AI as an add-on. “You have the product, which looks the same as it has for ten years, and then a little panel next to it that says AI. That can’t be the future,” Rivera said.

    For him, these early patterns are just the beginning — a foundation to build on. He envisions AI woven deeply into user experiences, reshaping interaction patterns themselves. “If AI had existed ten years ago, I don’t believe products would look the way they do today. We need to move beyond chat as the default interface and create experiences where AI feels native, invisible, and context-aware.”

    That, he argues, is where design proves indispensable. “It’s designers who will define the interaction patterns of AI in commerce. This is our role: to make the abstract real, to imagine the future, and to bring it into the present.”

    Measuring Success: Subjective by Design

    In a world obsessed with metrics, Rivera offers a refreshingly contrarian view of how design success should be measured.

    “Designers have often felt insecure, so they chase numbers to prove their value,” he said. “But to me, the most important measure isn’t a KPI. It’s whether the work feels right. Are we proud of it? Did it accelerate our vision? Does it make the product more delightful? I’m comfortable leaning on instinct.”

    That doesn’t mean ignoring business outcomes. But Rivera wants his teams to be guided first by craft, ambition, and impact on user experience — not by dashboards.

    Advice for Designers in an AI Era

    For independent designers and studio owners — many of whom worry that AI might disrupt their livelihoods — Rivera offers encouragement.

    He believes the most valuable skill today is adaptability: “The best trait a designer can have right now is the ability to quickly learn a new problem and generate many different options. That’s what the agency world trains you to do, and it’s exactly what big companies like Shopify need.”

    In fact, Rivera sees agency and freelance experience as increasingly attractive in large-scale design hiring. “People who have jumped between many problems quickly bring a unique skill set. That adaptability is crucial when technology and user expectations are changing so fast.”

    The Ambition at Shopify

    Rivera is clear about his mandate. He sums it up in three goals:

    1. Build the place where the world’s best designers choose to work.
    2. Enable them to do the best work of their careers.
    3. Define the future interaction patterns of AI in commerce.

    It’s an ambitious vision, but one he believes is within reach. “Ambition begets ambition,” he told his team in a recent message. “By raising expectations for ourselves and each other, we’ll attract people who want that environment, and they’ll keep raising the bar.”

    For Shopify, investing in design now goes beyond aesthetics. It is about shaping the future of commerce itself. As Rivera put it:

    “We don’t need to dream up sci-fi scenarios. The future is already here — just unevenly distributed. Our job is to bring it into the hands of entrepreneurs and make it usable for everyone.”

    Borrowing from William Gibson’s famous line, Rivera frames Shopify’s bet on Molly and design as a way of redistributing that future, through creativity, craft, and culture.





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  • why is it important? | Code4IT

    why is it important? | Code4IT


    Just a second! 🫷
    If you are here, it means that you are a software developer.
    So, you know that storage, networking, and domain management have a cost .

    If you want to support this blog, please ensure that you have disabled the adblocker for this site.
    I configured Google AdSense to show as few ADS as possible – I don’t want to bother you with lots of ads, but I still need to add some to pay for the resources for my site.

    Thank you for your understanding.
    – Davide

    Even though many developers underestimate this part, tests should be written even more clearly than production code.

    This is true because, while production code is meant to be executed by the application, good tests allow you to document the behavior of the production code. So, the first consumers of the tests are the developers themselves.

    So, how can we write better tests? A simple trick is following the «Arrange, Act, Assert» pattern.

    A working (but bad) example

    As long as the tests pass, they are fine.

    Take this example:

    [Test]
public void TestDateRange_WithFutureDate()
{
    var diff = (new DateTime(2021, 2, 8) - new DateTime(2021, 2, 3)).Days;
    Assert.AreEqual(5, diff);
}

    Yes, the test passes, but when you need to read and understand it, everything becomes less clear.

    So, it’s better to explicitly separate the sections of the test. In the end, it’s just a matter of readability.

    AAA: Arrange, Act, Assert

    A better way to organize tests is by following the AAA pattern: Arrange, Act, Assert.

    During the Arrange part, you define all the preconditions needed for your tests. You set up the input values, the mocked dependencies, and everything else needed to run the test.

    The Act part is where you eventually run the production code. The easiest example is to run a method in the System Under Test.

    Finally, the Assert part, where you check that everything worked as expected.

    [Test]
public void TestDateRange_WithFutureDate()
{
    // Arrange
    var today = new DateTime(2021, 2, 3);
    var otherDate = new DateTime(2021, 2, 8);

    // Act
    var diff = (otherDate.Date - today.Date).Days;

    // Assert
    Assert.AreEqual(5, diff);
}

    You don’t need to specify in every method the three different parts, but personally, I find it more readable.

    Think of tests as physics experiments: first, you set up the environment, then you run the test, and finally, you check if the result is the one you were expecting.

    This article first appeared on Code4IT

    Conclusion

    This is a really simple way to improve your tests: keep every part separated from the others. It helps developers understand what is the meaning of each test, and allows for easier updates.

    Happy coding

    🐧



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  • Important Information Before Applying For A Remote Employment


    Millions of articles extolling the advantages of remote work. It can be found online, but what about the less glamorous aspects of working from home? While obtaining remote employment has its benefits, there are a few things you may want to put into a statement before submitting your application if this is your first-time job search and applying for a remote position.

    Being alone when working remotely

    The days, weeks, and months might quickly start to seem lonely, although working remotely from home may seem like an introvert’s dream. Depending on the demands of your remote employees, you can go days without speaking to anyone, and when you do, it’s frequently over video chat or messaging software. By allowing their employees to socialise online or in person whenever possible, good remote employers will attempt to create a community among their staff.

    It requires more effort to communicate

    It’s simple to approach a coworker across the room or drop by their office in an office setting to discuss a project. It takes work to communicate as a remote team and includes job search. It’s far simpler for ideas to get lost in translation when you can’t share them in person and groups can span multiple time zones. Indeed, platforms and Slack make remote discussions more manageable. Setting your online status is as important as remembering to send a follow-up email or participate in a group chat when efficiently engaging with a remote team.

    The Work of Your Remote Employer May Cross Many Time Zones

    Working in a remote team requires becoming acclimated to communicating with individuals. Even if it’s simple to do this online, you still need to account for everyone’s time zone and national holidays. It may be necessary to compromise on your work schedule or schedule meetings at odd hours while working remotely with a large international team. It might not be for you to work remotely as part of a global team across time zones if you prefer a set 9 to 5 and demand constant access to all of your coworkers at RemoteHub. Using world clock apps is a simple approach to monitoring time in several time zones.

    You might not receive payment in your home currency

    Employers get to choose from among the people on the planet, which is one benefit of using a remote workforce. You might have to get used to receiving your pay in a different currency if you’re one of those remote workers. Every employer has a different pay structure. Some online firms will deposit money into your bank account immediately, while others may use a third-party payment system.

    A Quality Remote Setup Can Be Expensive

    You don’t fully understand how profitable it is to have office supplies like printers, stationery, ergonomic chairs, and standing desks until you leave an office setting. Most small companies expect you to have access to the tools you need to execute your job, while others will provide you with a budget to set up a remote home office. In addition to small items like pencils and paper, collect a desk, an ergonomic chair, a computer, a second monitor, a printer, headphones, a camera, and a quick internet connection.



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