Getting Started with Canvas Design Studio

This guide takes you from install to a live, designable product. Budget about ten minutes.

Step 1: Install the app#

Install Canvas Design Studio from the Shopify App Store. It runs embedded in your Shopify admin. The Free plan gives you one published template and 10 custom orders a month, so you can go live without paying anything — see Plans & Billing.

Step 2: Add the storefront block#

1. Open your theme editor (Online Store → Themes → Customize).
2. Navigate to a product page template.
3. Add the Design Studio app block and position it where the button should appear.
4. Style it in the block settings: button label (default "Design your own"), button colours, form panel height, and canvas height.

No code required — it works with any Online Store 2.0 theme. Full details of every block setting are in The Storefront Block.

Step 3: Create (or adopt) a template#

Every designable product needs a template — the starting point customers see.

• Fastest: open Templates, browse the Studio Templates library (~140 professionally designed templates across labels, jars, beer bottles, stamps, circles, ovals, rectangles and more) and click Adopt on one you like.
• From scratch: click Create template to open the studio in build mode. Set your physical print size, bleed, and safe zone; add background artwork, placeholder text, and image placeholders; mark which elements customers may edit.

See Templates & the Starter Library for the full authoring guide.

Step 4: Attach the template to products#

Two ways, same result:

• From the template: Templates → your template → assign products (or specific variants).
• From the product: open Products in the app, click a product, and add templates to it.

Step 5: Choose how customers design#

Each template runs in one of three modes — full Designer studio, a simple Form, or Inline where the canvas replaces the product gallery image. Pick whichever suits the product; see Lockdown & Customer Modes.

Step 6: Test it#

Open the product on your storefront, design something, and add it to cart. You should see:

• A "Design attached" confirmation with an Edit design link on the product page
• Your design preview on the cart line item

Place a test order, then open Designs in the app — your submission is there with its production downloads.

When real orders come in#

Every completed order with a custom design appears in your Designs gallery with one-click downloads: high-res PNG, production PDF, vector SVG, and cut-path die-line (production formats on Starter and above). The design files are also linked on the order itself via line item properties. See Production Files & Preflight.

Recommended first-week setup#

1. Set your shop-wide defaults in Settings — canvas size, bleed (default 0.125″), safe zone, DPI, and preferred unit.
2. Lock down your first template: restrict fonts and colours to your brand, and hide tools customers shouldn't need.
3. Check the plan gates: production PDF/SVG exports and the Unsplash library need Starter ($19/mo, 14-day trial).
4. Take one real test order end-to-end and open the files in your print workflow before announcing the product.