Inside Standout Shopify: Course & Community for Designers
Curious what's inside Standout Shopify? In this preview, I'll walk you through the program: built for designers who want to confidently design and build high-value Shopify websites for their clients.
Inside Standout Shopify: Course & Community for Designers
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Shopify
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Video
Welcome to Standout Shopify
I'm Rache of Squarestylist. In this video, allow me to walk you through our Standout Shopify program.
[00:00] What Standout Shopify Is
Standout Shopify is a course, community, and creative resource library for designers ready to build high-value Shopify websites.
Our program is hosted in Circl — this is where you'll find all our resources, including the courses or the lessons, as well as our community discussions.
In the top bar, you'll find the Courses tab, where you'll find structured lessons available for you.
[00:35] Designed for Every Stage of Your Shopify Journey
What I'd like to highlight is that this program is designed for you, no matter where you are in your Shopify design journey — whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced designer, rest assured that there are resources to support you here.
If you're new to Shopify, I recommend going through the lessons in order.
If you're already familiar with Shopify, for example, you may just look into the Shopify Build or Shopify Code modules.
This is designed to be a library where you pick what you need at the moment.
[01:10] The Discussions Space
And that's not only the case in terms of our courses or lessons. That's also how we designed the discussions.
So for example, under our Membership Space group, you'll find the workshops where I share workshops that you can incorporate in any Shopify site that you are working on. Note that you can apply these workshops to any Shopify project immediately, without having to complete the lessons.
And if you need any guidance, that's where our Discussions space is about. You can create a new post to ask questions about any topic. For example:
How to approach your Shopify project
How to build a certain layout or functionality in Shopify
I personally attend to every question, and I love problem-solving with my students. So please don't hesitate to ask questions.
[02:01] How to Post in the Community
It's best to create separate posts per topic. So for example, if you're working on an entire page in Shopify, it's best to create a new post for every section.
In every post and reply that you make, please make sure to tag me at @Rache. This is how I'll get notified.
Again, I'd like to highlight that the program is meant to be a support system for you, so please don't hesitate to seek support, especially if you're working on a current Shopify project. For example, if you need help achieving certain styles or layouts in Shopify, then this is what our Discussions space is about. I will:
Guide you step by step on how to achieve certain layouts
Provide alternatives
Point you to a specific lesson or workshop
Of course, I highly recommend that you go through our course lessons, because that will give you a good foundation. But going through the lessons or the discussions is not a requirement. For example, if you need a certain functionality added to your Shopify site, then I'm happy to point you to a resource or customize a specific resource for you. Of course, it depends on the complexity, but I try my best.
[03:05] The Standout Shopify Knowledge Base
In our community and in our lessons, you'll find me referencing resources that are hosted in our Standout Shopify Knowledge Base. This is in Notion, and all you need is a free account to access this resource.
You should receive an invitation from me to view our knowledge base 24 hours after you join our Standout Shopify membership.
You don't have to go through all of them at once, but you'll find that when you go through our courses, for example, in the Business unit, you'll find me referencing these resources in our lessons. For example:
Contracts
Message templates
Email scripts
All of those — I just wanted to have a central repository for all those resources and templates.
This is also where you'll find our Shopify Code Toolkit, which is a central database of the codes that you might find helpful in your Shopify builds. It's just easier to copy and paste from Notion to your Shopify site.
And again, you don't have to go through everything. But for example, if you're looking for a specific layout, like a gallery that you wish to add to your Shopify site, then you can look through the inspirations or ready-to-use sections that you can incorporate to any Shopify site.
[04:30] Walking Through the Course Lessons
Now let me walk you through the course lessons available for you at the moment.
Business
First, we have the Business unit, where I walk you through how to build a web design business with Shopify. And if you're just starting out, you'll also find a lot of resources on how to start your web design process, like:
The questionnaire
The project management dashboard
How to go about communicating with a client, from pricing to handoff
Designing for E-commerce
We also have Designing for E-commerce, where I walk you through the principles of designing for e-commerce websites. We don't only tackle aesthetics, but also the strategy behind:
How to achieve business goals
How to make sure that our websites are at par with website standards on accessibility, performance, and SEO
Shopify Basics
And Shopify Basics introduces you to building in Shopify, including how to create your Shopify Partners account, as well as being familiar with the theme editor, the Shopify dashboard, and the store data.
The lessons tackled here are applicable to any theme, that includes:
Setting up shipping
Taxes
Launch and handoff
[05:38] Dawn vs. Horizon Architecture
But in terms of the actual build and coding of Shopify sites, there are nuances depending on the theme that we use. There are thousands of Shopify themes that you'll find on the internet, but they are actually categorized into two main architectures:
Dawn architecture
Horizon architecture
So Dawn has been used for years, and currently, as of May 2026, this is the only architecture used by 100% of the paid themes in the marketplace.
But Horizon was introduced in May 2025, because it is a completely new architecture. It is not yet adapted by the existing paid themes, and there isn't an easy upgrade path from Dawn to Horizon. Hence, at the moment, the Horizon architecture is only available via the free themes provided by Shopify. In fact, when you install a new Shopify site, the default theme is called Horizon.
[06:39] Why Our Build & Code Modules Use Dawn
Currently, our Shopify Build and Shopify Code modules are built around the Dawn architecture. This way, whatever you learn from these modules, you can easily transfer it to other themes available in the Shopify marketplace.
The Dawn architecture is still widely used. And in fact, in these modules, I ask you to use a specific theme called Essentia. Essentia uses the Dawn architecture, and it is still being used by our students to build new Shopify websites.
When you visit our showcase page and filter to the Shopify projects, these are using our Esencia theme. Even in recently launched websites by our Standout Shopify students, like this one by Ellie, they are still using our Essentia theme.
[07:31] What's Coming for Horizon
Using the new Horizon architecture, though, has some advantages, which I discussed in the Shopify Basics module. This is why I'm adding new lessons to a module specific to Horizon.
So from here we have:
Shopify Build — Dawn (available now)
Shopify Build — Horizon (coming in the next months)
Shopify Code — Horizon (coming after that)
Please note, though, that if you already have a project at hand, you may get started with the Dawn architecture, and whatever you learn from building with any theme in Shopify, that's the same framework that we can use in building with other themes.
[08:08] How to Get Help
And again, if you need any help in approaching a project — for example, if you need help:
Choosing which theme to use
Choosing which architecture to use
Navigating the program in general
— please feel free to reach out. You may post in our community, or you may also directly message me.