In this article I want to take a closer look at the Shopify Broadcast theme that I recently used for a shop.

Overall impression

The theme has a clean design and looks good on all devices. In my opinion, it looks particularly good on mobile. It comes with nice little animations and transitions where it makes sense. You do not feel overwhelmed by too many animations.

The animations work well from a technical point of view. Images load as they are scrolled into view, and the visitor does not experience any 'delays'.

Theme sections

There is a wide range of sections to choose from if you decide to use the broadcast theme. There are basic modules such as "Image with text", complex sections such as "Shop the look" and also some playful sections like 'Text with products'.

Small drawback

Typographically, the theme could be more sophisticated. The default typography should have a clearer distinction in font sizes. Although you can change the font size, it is not very intuitive.

For example: If you use a particular section (e.g. the Image with Text section) that has a headline, you can change the font size for that headline individually. If you are a designer, you know that headline sizes should be consistent, so this is no problem.

But if you are a beginner, you do not know typographic rules, and if you use the section in four different places in the shop, you might choose four different headline sizes. The same goes for the padding.

Overall, the typography seems too small on desktop. On mobile it is fine.

Another thing that could be typographically improved are the unit prices. The price on the detail page is already very small and could be more prominent. However, if you have unit prices (e.g. price per litre) enabled in Shopify, these unit prices are displayed at almost the same font size as the selling price itself.

Conclusion

The theme is very adaptable and has its strengths, especially when it comes to storytelling. I would use it again because it offers a section and configurations for almost every content and design scenario you might encounter when building your shop.