The design process steps most people talk about focus on tools, deliverables, and timelines. Jamie Quiñones focuses on something else: defining constraints early, setting clear success criteria, and not pushing a single pixel until you have enough information.
After years working across complex systems and e-commerce, he’s developed a point of view that’s direct, practical, and occasionally uncomfortable. In this interview, he talks about blank canvas syndrome, what a failed video embed taught him about placement, and why AI is just another tool.
"Clarity is often the most important skill to learn. There are a lot of ways to get attention - but to maintain it, your design should have clarity."
Art, puzzles, and the pull into design
Jamie’s path into design was straightforward in hindsight. It combines two things he’s always loved: art and puzzle solving. Design sits exactly at that intersection – visual expression that has to work, not just look good. What keeps him going today is that the puzzle never gets easier. Every project is different, every set of constraints is new, and the problem is always worth solving.
Success criteria should be defined before the design process starts
For Jamie, design success changes from project to project – it depends entirely on the client’s goal. But one thing stays constant across all of them: success criteria need to be established at the start.
Otherwise you just end up spinning your wheels and over budget. It’s one of the most important design process steps that gets skipped. When nobody agrees on what success looks like upfront, every design decision becomes a debate.
Blank canvas syndrome – and how constraints fix it
The part of the design process Jamie struggles with most is the blank canvas. He hates it. His solution is to define all constraints as early as possible. The more information gathered before touching any pixels, the smoother everything that follows. Constraints aren’t limitations – they’re the structure that makes decisions easier and faster. The more information you can gather prior to pushing any pixels, the smoother the design process.
Why clarity is the hardest design process skill to develop
When designing for attention, Jamie comes back to clarity every time. There are a lot of ways to grab attention – but to hold it, the design needs to be clear. This matters especially when working on complex systems where a complicated UI is sometimes unavoidable.
In those cases, the objective of the page or product needs to be immediately obvious, even if the interface itself isn’t simple. Clarity isn’t about simplicity – it’s about direction.
What a failed video embed taught him about placement
One of the clearest examples from Jamie’s experience involved an e-commerce website. The team embedded a tutorial video within a category page and did everything possible to make it stand out. Nobody watched it. The lesson wasn’t about the video or the design. It was about placement.
Where a component sits within the overall experience sometimes matters more than how it looks on the page itself. Good design process steps include thinking about context, not just execution.
AI is just another tool – and the industry needs to treat it that way
Jamie’s take on AI is direct and a little impatient with the current conversation. He’s most looking forward to when the industry stops treating AI as some magical entity capable of all things and starts seeing it for what it is – just another tool. People are literally losing their jobs based on manufactured doubt.
The hype cuts both ways. Overstating what AI can do creates fear. Understating it creates complacency. Neither helps designers do better work.
Don’t confuse having a career with having a life
If Jamie could go back, the advice he’d give himself has nothing to do with design tools or process. Design is a fun career – but don’t confuse having a career with having a life.
Work your hours and go live a little. It is far more important and fulfilling than anything this business can offer. It’s the kind of advice that rarely appears in design interviews. Which is probably why it needed to be said.
About the designer
Jamie Quiñones is a designer with experience across e-commerce and complex digital systems. His approach to the design process steps is built around one consistent principle: gather information first, define success early, and let constraints guide the work rather than fight it. He believes clarity is the hardest skill in design to develop – and the most valuable one to have.
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