Johan Strömqvist

Product design craft lead

Principal-level ·Malmö, Sweden ·hello@johan.wtf
Printed from johan.wtf/resume

I'm an interaction designer with a design technologist flavour, leading design direction and builder enablement at large scale.

For seven years at Shopify, I was a craft lead for interaction, motion, and performance within the Polaris design system, enabling tens of thousands of designers and developers to build cohesive, high-quality products used daily by millions of businesses. I work deeply across both human and technical domains, combining knowledge of human perception with a practical understanding of technology to design solutions that work for people and the platforms that serve them.

Core strengths

Design leadership

Design direction · strategic anchoring · mentorship · unblocking · reframing

Interaction design / HCI

Functional visual design · concept clarity · feedback · motion · interactivity

Performance UX

Responsiveness · continuity · attention retention · optimism · loading · revalidation

Design systems

Design language · AI rules · UX patterns · guidelines · enablement

Design technology

Rapid prototyping · creative coding · engineering literacy · technical domain expertise

Timeline

2025 – present
2025 – present

2018 – 2025
2018 – 2025

Shopify helps millions of businesses sell products across online, in-store, social, as well as through AI clients. During my 7.5 year tenure, the company scaled massively (15x) reaching $350B+ in GMV and a $200B+ market cap – making Shopify one of the world's 100 most valuable companies.

I was a craft lead on the Core R&D / Polaris design system team, responsible for setting the interaction, motion, and performance quality bar so that tens of thousands of designers and developers could ship cohesive, high-quality experiences at scale.

2025
2025

2015 – 2018
2015 – 2018

2017
2017

2014 – 2015
2014 – 2015

2013 – 2014
2013 – 2014

2012 – 2013
2012 – 2013

2011 – 2013
2011 – 2013

2009 – 2010
2009 – 2010

2007 – 2011
2007 – 2011

2006 – 2007
2006 – 2007

2004 – 2006
2004 – 2006

2003 – 2004
2003 – 2004

2001 – 2003
2001 – 2003

Sabbatical · Tinkerer
2025 – present
Shopify · Design craft lead
2018 – 2025
Patent · Page loading
2025
Nerdmanship · Motion design technologist
2015 – 2018
CodePen Top 100 · Shortlist x 3
2017
Topp Design Studio · Interaction designer
2014 – 2015
Join the Carnival · UX designer
2013 – 2014
North Kingdom · Creative
2012 – 2013
Hyper Island · Digital Media
2011 – 2013
H+ · Environmental strategist
2009 – 2010
University of Gothenburg · Env. science
2007 – 2011
Lund University · Social psychology
2006 – 2007
Sport Hotel · Bar manager
2004 – 2006
Timberland · Store manager
2003 – 2004
Upper Secondary · Social science
2001 – 2003