Dawn is a free Shopify theme that brings together the upgraded features coming with the launch of Online Store 2.0. Shopify Dawn Theme enables you to get started quickly with the help of a clean, minimalistic, and simple design. Even non-technical business owners can create a professional storefront quickly and easily.
This article by LitExtension – The #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert, will provide a complete review of Dawn Theme Shopify and easy steps to customize this theme. Let’s figure out:
- Shopify Dawn theme review
- A complete guide to customizing the Shopify Dawn theme
- Shopify Dawn theme examples to get you inspired
Shopify Dawn Theme Overview
Shopify Theme Dawn is an open-source template designed by Shopify, first announced at Shopify Unite 2021. Along with the emergence of Online Store 2.0, I believe Dawn has made its name as the first reference theme that included many upgraded features to maximize merchants' flexibility in terms of visual customizations and eCommerce functionalities.
I think it's safe to say that Dawn is one of the best Shopify 2.0 themes. It comes with a wide range of flexible, well-designed places for products, high-quality images, and anything else you might need. As a typical theme listed on the Shopify Theme Store, Dawn has a drag-and-drop editor that enables you to easily create custom pages without writing a single line of code.
Additionally, Dawn theme Shopify helps sellers build storefronts that convert quickly without complicated developing processes. Also, the theme is built with mobile in mind, so you can rest assured that it works well on all browsers.
Like Dawn? Don't forget to check out our recommendations for the best Shopify themes:
- Debutify Theme Shopify Review: A Comprehensive Review
- Best Minimal Shopify Themes for Minimalist Stores
- Shopify Impulse Theme – Is It The Best Choice for You?
The Dawn Shopify theme features minimalism, focusing on placing photos and featured images. Therefore, you will find that this theme has lots of ample sections to display your items. Large, sharp images and simple fonts all help highlight your store's products.
In my assessment, the Shopify Dawn theme is suitable for stores that focus on visual storytelling. Especially, I highly recommend this template for fashion and jewelry brands and any other company with great visuals.
Shopify Dawn Theme Review: 5 Highlight Features
After months of testing the Dawn Shopify theme, here are the features that I like the most about this website template:
1. Customization
From my perspective, the Shopify theme Dawn is easy to customize and set up, thanks to its minimalistic and user-friendly design. You can create gallery pages, customize your homepage and take advantage of stunning visual banner options.
In addition, Dawn Theme also ensures you will be able to get all the new features available for your Shopify online store. Besides, it also provides access to free and continuous updates.
2. Cart and Checkout
The Dawn theme Shopify helps you optimize checkout by providing a variety of payment conveniences, such as cart notes, in-store pickup options, and a Quick Buy function that assists you in cutting down on the steps your customers have to go through to check out. You can add text to your checkout page and customize your add-to-cart buttons to create a personalized customer experience.
3. Marketing and conversion
Shopify Dawn theme offers a variety of marketing features that help increase sale volume. It supports blogging to promote your branding activities online with content creation and SEO.
In addition, Dawn also provides Product reviews or Recommended products to help customers better discover and learn more about your store's items. Besides, this free Shopify theme also includes a “quick view” option for product category pages. It allows your customers to view products without switching pages and thus creating a better shopping experience in your store.
4. Merchandising features
If you are looking for a theme with high-quality images, I must say that the Shopify theme Dawn can be a great choice. You can take advantage of image galleries, photo zoom options, upload multiple product videos or slideshows, and size charts, which help highlight your store's products and attract customers.
In addition, regarding product pages, Dawn provides product options and detailed product descriptions, including ingredients, nutritional information, and shipping/delivery information on each product page. This helps create a customer buying experience and drive store sales for your business.
5. Product discovery
Do you have a sophisticated product catalog? Then you'll surely love the Shopify Dawn theme. In all honesty, this template is famous for its enhanced search functionality and support for product filtering and sorting. Additionally, It offers a large menu that easily organizes all your pages into the right categories. You can also add permanent headers to your pages to improve customer navigation.
Shopify Dawn Theme Review: Pros and Cons
As one of the first free themes developed for Shopify Store 2.0, Shopify Theme Dawn offers many new and useful features. However, I must say that it also has certain limitations. Let's review some of the main pros and cons of the Shopify Dawn theme:
Pros | Cons |
- Easy to customize and optimize | - Style options are limited |
- Content sections can be added to all page types | - Some features require coding knowledge to customize |
- Responsive design that looks great on any device | |
- Fantastic merchandising, marketing, and conversion features | |
- Easy product discovery and navigation with mega menus and enhanced search | |
- Fast loading speed |
How to Customize the Shopify Dawn Theme
Want to give Dawn a try? Let me give you a Shopify Dawn theme tutorial based on my personal experience:
First, log in to your Shopify and go to Online Store > Themes. Scroll to Theme Library, choose Add theme, then click on Visit Theme Store.
After that, you will be redirected to Shopify theme stores. Here, search for Dawn Theme.
Then, click on Try theme to install the Dawn theme to your Shopify store
After that, you can choose Customize to start creating your Shopify website with the Dawn theme.
Now you can customize the Dawn theme according to your store's needs.
The Dawn theme editor provides Left Panel and Preview Section. The Left panel shows a layout that reflects the sequence of sections on your store page. Here, you can easily position each section on the page and customize the layout.
Before publishing, my advice is that don't forget to preview your design. The Preview section has three options: Mobile, Desktop, and Full-screen.
And that's how to customize Dawn theme Shopify. If you want more details on Shopify theme customizations, check out our article How to Custom Shopify Themes – A Complete Guide for Beginners.
5 Shopify Dawn Theme Examples To Inspire You
The Shopify Dawn Theme has inspired many stores worldwide to have distinct and fresh designs and provide a great shopping experience for their customers. Here are some stores that effectively use the Dawn theme that you can refer to.
#1 Runner Athletics
If you want an inspiring Shopify Dawn theme example, you might love to look at Runners Athletics. This is a store selling eyewear and hats. With the Dawn theme, this Shopify store is smartly designed with short, simple navigation and clear images. Their product pages are also minimal while still providing full information and useful product features.
#2 Bubble Tea Club
Bubble Tea Club is a shop selling pearl milk tea and sharing DIY recipes for making amazing bubble tea at home. This store makes good use of Shopify Dawn Theme, you can also see the uniqueness of the brand and products in their design.
Their product pages also provide a review star section, helping customers consider product selection more carefully.
#3 Tropii Loungewear
Tropii Loungewear is a boutique that sells high-quality clothing for women and men, inspired by urban music and London nightlife. The store design feels bold and individual. Dawn Theme allows the store to post multiple clothing items with no limit on the quantity.
#4 MD Complete
MD Complete offers premium skin care products that help address or repair wrinkles, dark spots, firmness, puffiness, fine lines, acne,… The store has a simple but attractive design thanks to the fresh and cool color tone. The Product pages section provides a detailed product description, including photos or video reviews and instructions for use, providing a great shopping experience for customers.
#5 Bookish Santa
Bookish Santa is an online bookstore that sells new and used books to many readers. This store leverages the Dawn theme, creating a user-friendly and minimalistic design sock website. This gives customers easy access to children's books, classics, novels, online non-fiction, and more.
Want to Build Your Store on Shopify?
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Shopify Dawn Theme – FAQs
Is Dawn a good Shopify theme?
Yes, Dawn is a good Theme because it's free, easy to use and still ensures to give your store beautiful custom designs. Especially, Dawn Theme is the ideal theme for start-up businesses with a modest budget as it helps to save website design and operating costs.
How do I get the Dawn theme on Shopify?
- Go to Shopify Theme Stores, search for Dawn Theme and click on “Try Theme”
- Move to Shopify Dashboard, go to Online store and Theme
- Click on Customize button of Dawn Theme
Is Shopify Dawn free?
Yes, Dawn is Shopify's first free OS 2.0 theme, designed and packed with new features. It's a flexible theme suitable for many stores, especially those that favor minimal design and visual storytelling.
Final Words
In conclusion, if you are looking for a simple and cost-effective Shopify theme, the Dawn theme is a great choice. Shopify Dawn Theme – one of the best Shopify themes – provides many outstanding features, creating a simple yet eye-catching design that helps you highlight your store's products on your website.
Hopefully, my article has given you a complete overview of Dawn theme and how to customize it easily. And last but not lease, follow our blog and join our community to learn more tips about eCommerce.
