Get the most from Maker
This guide is for merchants using Maker, including Bloom. Maker is for visual-first stores with a border-and-grid layout, bold storytelling, and shoppable galleries.
Theme, Shopify, or an app?
Theme: storefront look. Theme settings, sections, and default theme text.
Shopify admin: catalog and content. Products, Collections, Pages, and Content → Menus (the theme only displays the menu you assign) and Blog posts.
Outside the theme: checkout and payments (Settings), collection filters (Search & Discovery), and email, reviews, or subscription apps.
Theme settings to know
Open Edit theme → Theme settings. These groups in the left sidebar apply storewide.
Colors
Storewide palette: seven accents, page and text colors, and light and dark backgrounds. On each section, Background color and Text color pick from this list. See Colors.
Layout
Border color and Border thickness draw one storewide stroke. Desktop spacing and Mobile spacing set the Small / Medium / Large sizes. On each section, Spacing above and Spacing below dropdowns pick None, Small, Medium, or Large. See Spacing and layout.
Reuse the same Spacing above / Spacing below dropdown on adjacent sections: Medium throughout the shop, or Large on a hero and Medium on what follows. Use None when two sections should sit flush. Add a Divider when you need a gap with no content. Keep mobile spacing smaller than desktop, and preview both after you change the scale in Layout.
Borders and spacing work together. If the page appears cluttered, check border thickness before you set every section to Large. Use None when two sections should share a border edge-to-edge.
Typography
Heading, navigation, and body fonts; the type size ladder. See Typography.
Buttons & Inputs
Theme settings → Buttons & Inputs defines button styles 1 through 4, input colors, and corner radii storewide, each style includes a Shadow setting for depth. On each section, the Button block picks style 1–4. Button label size is in Typography → Buttons. See Buttons and inputs.
Images
Product, collection, and article crops. See Images.
Social media
One place for every platform's icon and link, used by the footer, announcement bar, and other sections. See Social media.
Animations
Four storewide switches to turn off text, image, button hover, or other motion. See Animations.
Product grid
Overlay vs below titles, image padding, hover panes, and the circular price badge. Text alignment for product cards is set here, not on the collection section. See Product grid.
Cart
Cart type (Page or Drawer), the checkout button style, order notes, and the free shipping progress message. See Cart.
On each section
Open a section in Edit theme, not Theme settings:
Pick a default Text alignment per template and keep supporting sections on it: left for catalogs and long copy, center for heroes and short announcements, then back to your default. Mobile text alignment is separate.
Maximum container width is on each section: contained for text-heavy blocks, Full width for slideshows and large photography. A useful rhythm is full-width hero → contained story → full-width collection.
See Alignment and width for more details.
Depth comes from the border and card hover panes rather than a storewide drop-shadow toggle.
Sections and templates
Edit theme → Add section, plus menus and page layouts:
Products
Product data lives in Shopify admin. These guides cover how the theme displays it:
- Product grid
- Swatches
- Filters (Search & Discovery app)
- Search
Content and store
If something used to work and no longer does, start with Troubleshooting. For what changed recently, see the Maker release notes.
Want Bloom instead of Maker, or the reverse?
One Maker purchase includes both styles. Bloom uses confident typography and colour blocking; Maker uses the same grid with image-forward layouts. To switch after install, see What are theme styles?. You do not need to switch to continue this guide. For the exact settings that differ between them, see the Demo store reference.