We’re currently undergoing a Built for Shopify (BFS) review and have encountered a requirement that we’d appreciate some clarification on.
Our app allows customers to upload images for printing and uses a color-coded DPI quality indicator to warn them when their uploaded images may not be suitable for high-quality printing.
Currently, our default indicators are:
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Red – Terrible Quality (96 DPI or below): Warns customers that their image quality is extremely low and may result in a poor print. -
Orange – Poor Quality: Indicates low image resolution. -
Yellow – Medium Quality: Indicates acceptable but less-than-ideal resolution. -
Green – High Quality: Indicates good resolution for printing.
These indicators serve an important functional purpose. They help customers immediately recognize potential print-quality issues before placing an order, reducing the likelihood of receiving an unsatisfactory printed product.
The issue:
During our BFS review, we received the following feedback under requirement 4.3.3 – Don’t distract merchants:
“The color red must be used for error messages or destructive actions only. Do not use it for other purposes.”
We understand and respect Shopify’s design guidelines. However, in our use case, red is specifically intended as a warning that an uploaded image has critically low resolution and may produce an unacceptable print.
Changes we’ve already implemented:
Following previous review feedback, we’ve made the indicator colors fully customizable, allowing merchants to change the border colors to suit their preferences.
However, we’ve kept red as the default for the lowest-quality images because it is widely recognized as a warning color and helps customers identify potentially problematic uploads immediately.
We’ve attached a screenshot of the current configuration for reference.
Our questions for the Shopify BFS team:
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Would this qualify as a legitimate error or warning state? Since critically low DPI can result in an unsuitable print, could the red border be considered a functional quality warning rather than a decorative use of red?
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Is an exception or clarification possible for this specific use case? Our intention is to prevent customers from unknowingly submitting poor-quality images.
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Does merchant customization make a difference? Since merchants can now choose their own indicator colors, would keeping red as the default still violate the BFS requirement?
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If red is not permitted as the default, what implementation would Shopify recommend? We want to preserve a clear, highly visible warning while remaining compliant with BFS requirements.
We’re happy to make any necessary changes, but we’d like to ensure we understand the requirement correctly before modifying functionality that plays an important role in our customers’ ordering experience.
Unfortunately, the BFS review feedback is being sent from a no-reply email address, which makes it difficult for us to ask these questions directly or explain our use case to the reviewer.
We would greatly appreciate guidance from a Shopify staff member or the Built for Shopify review team.
