The same words come up again and again in Composerie. This guide gives you a short, plain definition for each one, so the rest of the help center reads easily. It is for anyone new to Composerie who wants the vocabulary down before they go deeper.
Read it top to bottom once, then come back when a term trips you up.
Products, variants, designs and templates
These four terms describe the thing you sell and the editable artwork behind it. They build on each other, so it helps to learn them in order.
A product is the item you sell. A tote bag, a poster, or a mug are all products. It is the thing a shopper buys.
A variant is a version of a product. A size or a color is a variant. One product can have several variants, so a poster might come in small, medium, and large. You manage these on the product’s Variants tab. To go deeper, see variants and options.
A design is what you build in the Design Studio, the canvas where you place text, images, and shapes. A design holds two things: the layers that make up the artwork, and the fields a shopper is allowed to change. A variant can point to its own design, so the large poster and the small poster can each have artwork sized for them.
A template is a reusable starting point. You can create a product from a template instead of starting from a blank canvas. Templates are listed separately under Templates in the Products area, so they stay apart from your live products. Learn more in product templates.
Add-ons, providers and the customizer
These terms cover the extras you can sell, the partner who makes the order, and what your shopper actually touches.
An add-on is an extra paid option on a product. Think gift wrapping or a premium finish. You manage add-ons on the product’s Add-ons tab, where they appear as their own section. See add-ons for setup.
A provider is a print partner you connect. Printify, Printful, and PrintAPI.nl are all providers. The provider manufactures the order and ships it to your customer. You can connect one in connect a provider.
The customizer is what your shopper uses on your storefront. It shows your product, lets them personalize the parts you marked as editable, and shows a live preview before they add it to the cart. See how a shopper personalizes a product.
A customizer group ties several products together so customers see them as material options. For example, you can group the same design on canvas, metal, and acrylic, and the shopper switches between them as materials in one place.
Storefront mode
A storefront mode is how a product appears on your store. You choose it when you publish the product.
There are three modes:
- Linked works in the background. The product page stays as your theme built it, and Composerie connects behind the scenes.
- Embedded puts the customizer right on the product page.
- Full page opens a dedicated page for the customizer.
To pick the right one for a product, read storefront modes explained.
Keep these definitions handy as you read the rest of the help center. If a word ever feels unfamiliar, come back here first. And if you get stuck, you can always contact support.
Next
New to all this? Start with what Composerie does and how the pieces fit.