Referee

When Referee set out to transform their digital storefront into a fast, intuitive ecommerce destination for officials and sports enthusiasts alike, we began by aligning on a clear strategic vision rooted in flexibility, performance, and long-term growth. Instead of a traditional monolithic approach, we recommended a headless Shopify architecture powered by Next.js and React to give Referee ownership of every user interaction while leveraging Shopify’s robust ecommerce engine. Early conversations focused on understanding key selling flows, advanced search behaviors, membership-driven product discovery, and the client’s unique customer segments so that every feature we developed would not only meet user expectations but elevate them. Throughout planning, we consulted on functional implementations, scoped custom UX enhancements, and coordinated directly with Referee’s third-party vendors to make sure technical requirements and integrations were fully aligned for a seamless build and launch.

Our creative process for Referee married clean, modern ecommerce aesthetics with a UX that supports both seasoned officials and first-time buyers. We crafted custom interfaces that guide users fluidly through product categories, spotlight key gear, and highlight membership benefits without overwhelming them. Animations and micro-interactions were purposefully integrated to enhance user engagement without compromising clarity or performance, giving the site a sense of polish and responsiveness from the first click to checkout. Every visual element was designed to reinforce trust, utility, and brand authority—ensuring that shopping felt effortless, rewarding, and unmistakably tailored to the needs of the officiating community.

With design and strategy locked in, our development team built a headless ecommerce experience using Next.js and React that delivers lightning-fast page loads, intuitive navigation, and advanced interaction patterns. The custom Shopify back-end fed product and commerce data, while our front-end framework enabled personalized predictive search, dynamic filtering, and smooth animated transitions. We engineered selling features that support Referee’s membership tiers, allowing users to find relevant products quickly and intuitively, and we optimized site performance at every layer; minimizing bundle size, implementing server-side rendering where it made sense, and tuning resource loading to keep the experience crisp across devices. Throughout the build, we conducted multiple rounds of QA and iteration, polishing interactions, refining animations, and validating that every UX nuance worked exactly as intended in real-world conditions. Our team also served as the central liaison for all third-party technical communication, ensuring that integrations and external systems flowed seamlessly within the headless environment. The result was a bespoke ecommerce platform that feels fast, dynamic, and built for growth.