What is your favourite thing about designing for ecommerce?
I believe the exciting and fun part about working with e-commerce is that all brands are different and unique in some way, and it’s our job to understand a brand, their goals, and their audience, and then develop a strategy and creative vision to help them achieve their hopes and dreams.
Another thing I find interesting with e-commerce is all the touchpoints that are involved in designing a site, from emails to integrated apps. In order to create a consistent and holistic brand experience, each touchpoint needs to be designed with care.
What ecommerce trend do you hate?
Hate is a strong word but I must say that I dislike the quiz trend.
Where do you go for design inspiration?
I have many sources of inspiration, from the New York City subway to our internal “random” slack channel to intro sequences in James Bond movies. To me, it’s a matter of being aware and open to the things and people around me. If I'm not in the mood, I'm not inspired.
What's your favourite web font?
Timeless and classic, Helvetica. Another font I like is Aperçu, it’s simple but playful.
Who's your current ecomm crush?
I think the newly launched CBD-infused sparkling water brand Recess’ has an amazing website. It’s simple and beautiful. Entireworld, a clothing brand that launched earlier this year, also has a really interesting website in many ways. I usually don’t like when sound autostarts playing on a site, but in this case, I’m weirdly enough into it.
What's your jam while working?
As we are located on Canal Street in Chinatown, the music that plays in the office reflect that dynamism between old and new. We got some old Disco jam á la Womack & Womack, laid-back tunes á la Mac DeMarco, some ambience aquatic stuff á la Hidden Spheres. When I really need to focus I put my headphones on and listen to house or techno.
What's your favourite Shopify app and why?
I like Klaviyo a lot. It’s an email marketing platform that is very intuitive and they have a great customer support.
How did you start designing Shopify sites?
I started working with Shopify at Zero Studios. I believe it’s a really good platform as it gives you a structure but also a lot of freedom in terms of what you can do with design and code. We never limit or simplify our design to fit what we know is already possible, we always let the creative come first and then find a way to solve the problem and realize the vision.
What's the best design advice someone has given you?
If you are trying to say too many things at the same time, you end up saying nothing. When designing for e-commerce, I believe this advice is especially important. You want to create a seamless journey without too much noise to make it easy to shop. You should focus on one or two message points if you want to leave a strong impression on someone.
What Shopify project are you most proud of?
The SodaStream website we designed and developed was a real beauty when it came out, both from a creative and technical standpoint. We produced all content, wrote all copy, and developed a highly customized Shopify solution. For example, we developed a system for exchanging cylinders, which needed a lot of custom logic and consideration.
We also have a couple of sites coming out before the end of the year that I’m all very proud of, NotPot being one of them.
