korrents
Katarina Batina

What Katarina Batina thinks about design

@katarina-batina · 20 positions · 0 changes of mind

Design Director for the Shop app at Shopify.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Katarina Batina did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

16 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Katarina Batina has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingAny redesign of an incumbent product, such as an onboarding flow, almost always loses at first; it takes the confidence and agreement to begin below the status quo baseline in order to beat the incumbent.

    Their wordsAny team who's had to optimize an onboarding flow and that one time you decided to redesign it, like it almost always loses, right? But it's having the confidence and the agreement to begin, like we're actually going out to beat the incumbent and we're going to reset a baseline that inherently might be a little lower than what status quo is today.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 1st of 20 in this recording

  3. Our readingTeams need to create the grounds to take some risk, committing as much iteration to the new thing as was put into the incumbent product.

    Their wordsyou need to create the grounds to take some risk knowing that you're going to commit just as much iteration into the next thing as you did the the the incumbent product.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 2nd of 20 in this recording

  5. Our readingDesigners should focus on what differentiates them, which is designing what is desirable, and pick the tools that render the idea in the most believable way rather than worrying about feasibility.

    Their wordsrefocus on what makes you as a designer differentiated which is designing what's desirable. Don't worry about feasibility. Pick the tools that are going to allow you to render the idea in the most believable way.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 3rd of 20 in this recording

  7. Our readingNot being able to ship a prototype to production does not mean a designer has failed.

    Their wordsThe fact that you can't ship it to production doesn't mean that you've failed.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 4th of 20 in this recording

  9. Our readingWhen prototyping a full feature, a designer should render the whole idea and use that as the thing to talk to engineering with, rather than aiming to ship it end to end to production.

    Their wordsIf you're trying to prototype a full feature, don't go for the moonshot of end to ending this and shipping it to production. Just render the whole idea and then use that as the thing you talk to engineering with.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 5th of 20 in this recording

  11. Our readingDesign should be the tip of the spear for desirability, and taste, editing and deciding what matters are skills that have long had their home in design practice.

    taste

    Their wordsdesign should be the tip of the spear for desiraability. And I think that's probably the genesis of like if you extrapolate that comment out to like taste, editing, deciding what actually matters, that's a skill set that has been naturally a home in the design practice since before computers were invented.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 6th of 20 in this recording

  13. Our readingConstraints driving the design process is something to avoid, especially now.

    Their wordsthe thing that I hate to see are is when constraints start driving the design process, especially now.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 7th of 20 in this recording

  15. Our readingWith any new explosion of tools, designers may start designing to their local skill set.

    Their wordsThe thing I worry about with any new kind of tool explosion as designers are learning is that they'll start designing to their local skill set.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 8th of 20 in this recording

  17. Our readingEditing, focusing on the most critical aspects of an experience and being really disciplined about it, has become an important part of the design job.

    Their wordsEditing has been an important part of the job as of recently. um really focusing in on what is the most critical aspects of our experience and getting really really disciplined about that.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 9th of 20 in this recording

  19. Our readingThe way to build excitement for an idea is still to make a really compelling prototype and tell a story, and that is much easier now.

    Their wordsmake a really compelling prototype and tell a story. I think that stands now. I just think that your ability to do that, it's honestly much easier.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 10th of 20 in this recording

  21. Our readingBeyond designers working in code, this era unlocks access to data and legibility into the business that designers did not have before.

    Their wordsAs much as there's a really myopic focus on like designers in code, which is important and true, and I am totally signed on on, we're missing the other part of what this era is unlocking for designers, which is access to data, access to allegibility in the business that you didn't have before.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 11th of 20 in this recording

  23. Our readingThe most enduring skill in this era is shaping great products, not just executing: designers come for craft work and leave as great product thinkers.

    Their wordsthat's the big shift change is people come to do great craft work, but they leave really great product thinkers. And that to me is one of the most enduring skills in this era as we move out of like our central value being execution into being people who can shape great products that people love to use.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 12th of 20 in this recording

  25. Our readingGreat design leaders of this era need a deeply intense relationship with what the business is there to do, paired with a deep relationship with what makes great design.

    Their wordsgreat design leaders of this era just have to have a deeply intense relationship with what the business is there to do and pair that intensity with a deep relationship with what makes great design.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 14th of 20 in this recording

  27. Our readingIt will probably be a tough go in the long run for the professional manager whose calendar is driven by one-on-one time on career development, and a culture of designers improving is hard to build without deep passion for the craft.

    Their wordsI think it's really hard to generate that culture if you're not deeply passionate about the craft. I think it'll be a really tough go in the long run for like the professional manager whose calendar is really driven by one-on-one time talking about career development.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 15th of 20 in this recording

  29. Our readingOne-on-one time should be about the work: opening up the prototype, live critique, and helping designers make better decisions.

    Their wordsone-on-one time should be about the work. Let's get into the work. Let's open up your prototype. Let's have live critique and and you know move this work forward and help designers figure out how to make better decisions.

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 16th of 20 in this recording

  31. Our readingLanguage is becoming the material for building, so the more precisely designers can say what is wrong with the work, the better off they will be in an agentic era.

    Their wordsour material language for building is now becoming words. We now have to give critique to our agents. Most the time we have to point at the thing and say, "This isn't right, and here's why." The higher fidelity that designers can have in the language they use to make their work better, the better off they're going to be in an agentic era

    ↗Katarina Batina - Making big bets with designyoutube.com 17th of 20 in this recording