What Marvin Schwaibold thinks about creativity

@marvin-schwaibold · 20 positions · 0 changes of mind

Leads the Product Design Studio at Shopify; co-founder of the design agency Molly, which Shopify acquired in 2025.

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6 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Marvin Schwaibold has said — not written or endorsed by them.

1. 2 Apr 2026

   Our readingIf you are not having fun with the people you are working with, that seldom produces very good creative output.

   Their wordsIf you're not having fun with the people that you're working, then I think that seldom produces very good creative output.

   ↗Marvin Schwaibold - Inside Shopify's New Product Design Studioyoutube.com 2nd of 20 in this recording

3. 2 Apr 2026

   Our readingThere is almost no end state to a project: it has to reach a point where everybody has given as much of what makes them unique to it, and then it is usually in a state it otherwise could not get to.

   Their wordsThere is almost no end state to to a project. It has to get to a point where everybody's given as much of what makes them unique in the team to the project and then it'll usually be in a state that you otherwise couldn't get to.

   ↗Marvin Schwaibold - Inside Shopify's New Product Design Studioyoutube.com 4th of 20 in this recording

5. 2 Apr 2026

   Our readingBeing a mile wide and an inch deep with a team loses creativity; the team is better kept together and close, sequencing work more than running it in parallel.

   Their wordsYou don't want to be a mile wide and an inch deep with your team. That's how you lose creativity. That's how you lose the environment where somebody with a specific skill set can be successful and can work in. You want to keep the team together. You want to keep the team really close and you want to sequence more than you do parallel.

   ↗Marvin Schwaibold - Inside Shopify's New Product Design Studioyoutube.com 6th of 20 in this recording

7. 2 Apr 2026

   Our readingOutput gets really high by iterating and ideating through as many ideas as possible in the fastest amount of time, then picking threads to follow and going deeper into them.

   Their wordsLike our output is really really high because we try to iterate and ideate through as much ideas as possible in the fastest amount of time just to get to an end point where we can look at a lot of different things that we've worked on. And then from there you can pick strings or channels to follow and then fall deeper into.

   ↗Marvin Schwaibold - Inside Shopify's New Product Design Studioyoutube.com 9th of 20 in this recording

9. 2 Apr 2026

   Our readingPeople creating their own workflows, building a set of tools and stringing them together to get to their output, is as creative as it gets.

   Their wordswhat we're seeing right now is people creating their own workflows. That alone is as creative as you can get. Building a set of tools and stringing them together in a way you want it you want them strung together to get to your output is an insanely cool to see

   ↗Marvin Schwaibold - Inside Shopify's New Product Design Studioyoutube.com 16th of 20 in this recording

11. 2 Apr 2026

    Our readingGraphic design is learned by copying graphic design; the best thing a younger designer can do on seeing something beautiful is try to recreate it.

    design

    Their wordsI learned graphic design by copying graphic design. Like that was the main thing we had to do and that I tried to do. And I think by the way for listeners who are maybe also a little bit younger in their career, the best thing you can do when you see something that you really like that's really beautiful is try to recreate it.

    ↗Marvin Schwaibold - Inside Shopify's New Product Design Studioyoutube.com 17th of 20 in this recording