Design and ecommerce are often treated as separate worlds. One is about aesthetics and creativity; the other about conversion, funnels, and performance.
In reality, the most successful digital products sit exactly in the middle.
In this Q&A, Matías, Chief Design Officer at Revolt, shares his perspective on what makes a strong designer today, why digital experiences—especially in ecommerce—are becoming increasingly similar, and where judgement still makes the difference in a market full of tools, templates, and AI.
What makes a good designer today?
Matías: A good designer is someone with judgement.
Judgement is the hardest thing to build, and also the most valuable—especially in a market shaped by automation and AI. It’s easy to depend on tools to decide for you. What’s hard is knowing why something should exist, not just how to build it.
Beyond that, a good designer needs strong communication skills: working in teams, collaborating with other disciplines, understanding clients, and reading complex situations.
This applies to pure design work, but also to ecommerce and product environments, where decisions are rarely isolated. Every choice impacts user experience, business metrics, and long-term consistency.
Tools, AI, and the risk of outsourcing thinking
Today, designers and ecommerce teams have more tools than ever. Platforms, frameworks, templates, AI-generated layouts, CRO checklists.
These tools raise the baseline. They make it easier to do things “right”.
But they don’t replace judgement.
In ecommerce, this is especially visible. Two stores can look almost identical, follow the same best practices, and still perform very differently. The difference usually isn’t the tool—it’s the quality of the decisions behind it.
Knowing when to add, when to remove, and when not to change anything at all is still a human responsibility.
What excites you—and worries you—about design today?
Matías: The bar has risen significantly. It’s much easier now to find good design than it was years ago.
At the same time, the curve has flattened. There’s less contrast. More repetition. Many digital experiences—including ecommerce—feel familiar because they rely on proven patterns and shared references.
That’s efficient. But it also cools down creativity.
You still see great work and exceptional moments, but overall there’s less surprise. Less personality. Many products adapt well to current trends, but don’t go much further than that.
Where design and ecommerce truly meet
In ecommerce, design is often reduced to visuals or UI tweaks. In design teams, ecommerce is sometimes reduced to conversion metrics.
Both views miss the point.
Design decisions in ecommerce shape trust, clarity, and confidence. Ecommerce constraints—logistics, pricing, scale, performance—shape design decisions.
The intersection is judgement, understanding trade-offs and choosing what matters most for users and the business.
A well-designed ecommerce experience isn’t the one with the most features, but the one that feels coherent, predictable, and intentional.
What’s non-negotiable in a project?
Matías: What I don’t negotiate is not having tried enough times to find a solution we truly believe in.
Constraints will always appear—clients change direction, technology imposes limits, business priorities shift. That’s normal.
What’s not acceptable is settling for the easy version without pushing first. You can always simplify later. But if you don’t aim for the best possible version, the result usually shows.
This applies equally to brand work, product design, and ecommerce platforms.
Where do you see opportunity today?
There’s a growing opportunity in differentiation.
Many brands have played it safe for years. In design language, in messaging, in ecommerce experiences. The result is efficiency—but also fatigue.
People are starting to expect more personality, clearer positioning, and braver decisions. The same applies to ecommerce, not everything needs more automation or more AI. Some experiences simply need better judgement.
Technology creates speed. Differentiation still comes from intent.
Closing
Design and ecommerce are not opposites. They are different lenses on the same problem, building digital experiences that work.
In a landscape full of tools, templates, and AI, judgement remains the common ground. It’s what connects aesthetics with performance, creativity with conversion, and vision with execution.
At Revolt, we see design and ecommerce as independent disciplines—but strongest when they inform each other.
Because in the end, the difference is rarely what you build.
It’s why you decided to build it that way.
