The Tap & Chip Reader is one of Shopify’s point-of-sale hardware devices. Momentum helped the design team at Shopify set the direction for Tap and Chip with early stage conceptual development, renderings, and prototypes. Our focus was aimed at creating a great user experience based on real end-user behaviours. Two key users, the merchant and customer, have distinct and overlapping requirements that had to be addressed. The final embodiment had to allow for portability in some instances, a stable and reliable charging strategy, a simple and intuitive user interface, and a great looking design.

The design team at Shopify continued with the development phases of the Tap & Chip project while our focus turned to the packaging design.

We focused on preliminary graphics, form factor, unboxing experience, and overall mechanical design. When the merchant opens the box it’s as though they are revealing a pearl, and to facilitate removal, a “credit card” provides the affordance to easily lift the reader from a moulded pulp cradle. A simple quick-start guide is presented alongside the reader while the accessories are hidden beneath the reader for an uncluttered aesthetic.