Shopify
Chip and Swipe
Shopify Chip & Swipe provides Shopify’s user base with a simple and elegant solution to accept payments. The customer can insert or swipe and sign on the POS device. “The Chip & Swipe Reader is pocket-sized, wireless, and comes with a base to rest on a countertop.” – Shopify
Conceptual Direction
The brief for Shopify Chip & Swipe was to integrate chip and swipe technology into a simple and easy to use device. In addition, the reader had to be adaptable for use in different ways, a key requirement created by Shopify’s diverse merchant base. Our efforts were quickly focused on understanding the merchant-customer relationship, the nature of various transactions, and how to integrate the reader. In addition, we had to help Shopify develop a visual brand identity, for hardware devices. We settled on a configuration that allowed the reader to be removed from a charging base with a design vocabulary expressed by simple, approachable, and modern forms.
Mechanical Design
We developed an overall assembly strategy and refined the functional elements, through prototyping, to ensure visual cues informed proper use and physical affordances provided the best possible user experience. Finally, we created a documentation packing that included 3D CAD files, and CMF documentation (Colours, Materials, and Finishes) for handoff to a manufacturing partner.
We’re incredibly proud of our collaboration with Shopify on Chip and Swipe, check out their brilliant promotional video.