Society6 is an early pioneer of artist-driven marketplaces. Founded in 2009 with the goal of connecting independent artists with consumers, the brand became a hub for creative expression and accessible art across a range of home, lifestyle, and tech products.
But after more than a decade on a homegrown commerce platform, the business was struggling to keep up with its ambitions. The technology was rigid, costly, and difficult to scale, product updates were slow, and brand perception was slipping. Most importantly, the experience no longer reflected the originality and self-expression at the heart of Society6’s community.
To reclaim its creative edge—and modernize the entire commerce experience for customers and artists alike—Society6 partnered with a leading Shopify partner agency, Pattern. Over the course of a year-long collaboration, the teams rebuilt the brand’s ecommerce foundation from the ground up, powered by Shopify.
Since partnering with Pattern and implementing Shopify, Society6 has:
- 60% average increase in add-to-cart rate
- 45% increase in mobile conversion rate
The challenge: Aligning creative vision with technical reality
After launching in 2009, Society6 had built a loyal community and a deep catalog of artist-designed products. But behind the scenes, the infrastructure was falling short of supporting this thriving creative ecosystem.
The root of the problem was their custom open-source platform, which made changes expensive and time-consuming. This technical rigidity led to persistent performance issues and stalled optimization efforts, creating a direct financial impact on the business. The platform’s limitations were actively undermining customers' confidence in the brand—and eroding artists' belief in the platform they depended on.
Society6’s technical debt created a growing disconnect between their identity and the customer experience. Though the company saw itself as an artist-first brand, that story wasn't coming through in daily interactions. Customer research confirmed this misalignment: shoppers struggled to find inspiration or understand what made Society6 different, while artists found little incentive to invest in developing their storefronts.
Recognizing these interconnected challenges, the Society6 team was determined to evolve. They envisioned a fresh digital identity that would authentically match the creativity and diversity of their artist community, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for scalable growth. Achieving this vision would require more than surface-level changes—it meant a complete overhaul of both the brand expression and the fundamental systems supporting it.
That’s when they turned to Pattern for help.
“We initially engaged [Pattern] to lead the redesign for our website, but ended up with a thoughtful and strategic partnership that extended beyond just new UX/UI," says Brit Tucker, vice president and head of product and ecommerce at Society6. "Every step of the project tied back to the research, including expanding our personas, refining our values, and layering in pulses of focus groups and user testing throughout the project.”
The solution: Reimagining the creative marketplace on Shopify
Pattern led a comprehensive reinvention of Society6, starting with extensive user research to define three strategic pillars: improve platform performance, elevate brand storytelling, and create a modern visual expression.
After evaluating multiple platforms, Society6 selected Shopify for its performance, flexibility, and ability to support both direct-to-consumer and marketplace operations at scale. Pattern's implementation created a modular structure that gives Society6 a future-ready foundation capable of evolving alongside their business ambitions and creative community.
The team reimagined the digital experience through the dual lens of artists and customers. For shoppers, the new site delivers intuitive navigation, personalized discovery, and smooth checkout that showcases artist-designed products. For creators, the platform better highlights their work and provides tools to engage with the Society6 community.
Pattern's process from start to finish is comprehensive and filled with an incredible amount of curiosity and empathy. Their team became a true extension of our own. And thanks to Shopify's flexibility, we were able to turn that curiosity into an engaging experience for both artists and customers.
Visually, the redesign introduced an expressive, modern aesthetic that authentically represents Society6's creative community. Pattern built a system of Shopify components that adapt across product categories, empower customization, and support future marketing campaigns without costly development resources.
The results: A best-in-class experience for artists and customers
Pattern and Shopify helped Society6 launch a dynamic new commerce experience that better reflects its identity and supports its future.
The new site has redefined how Society6 shows up for customers, artists, and the broader market by elevating the brand, simplifying the journey, and powering discovery at every click. Customers are now spending more time exploring artists' work, resulting in a 60% average increase in add-to-cart rates and a 45% increase in mobile conversions. With a composable Shopify architecture and scalable UX framework in place, the business has gained a flexible, future-ready platform that equips the team to iterate, innovate, and grow into new product categories with enhanced personalization as their needs evolve.
The end result embodies everything we set out to do: design an aesthetically beautiful, elevated, and functional website to give our customers a delightful experience with every click.