AI, small Shopify gig jobs and an ecommerce design system

Week 4 from Blaze

This is going to be loaded with content for designers, developers, and business owners. Remember, you can’t implement these learnings instantly. Be patient; your input will reward a good output in fair time

The web design problems multi-million dollar brands cant figure out

My YouTube video is live! I’m aiming to post here once a month. Yeah, the thumbnail isn’t original. Madani is making me a new one

Design system progress

Claude design hasn’t killed this! It actually has validated the proof of handmade design even more. I’m prepping this file on my IG lives every week. This is a lightweight design file that’s being referenced in recent Shovel work

Variables have been reworked. Core components are almost complete. Next are the e-commerce-specific components

My pain point with other design systems is that they are ‘over-designed’. We should be at a point where a freelancer or small team can spin up a system in less than a week. Claude can do that, but you’re getting a very poor output in return, even when it’s hand-fed brand guidelines & a literal Figma design

If you have proven experience in e-commerce. I’m currently creating a list of testers to help me out. You can get the file early in exchange for an honest review!

Email me your portfolio

AI is Cannibalizing the Gig Marketplace

If you’re confident in your skills to build out entire systems and experiences, you’ll be fine

If you’re taking those small $400 jobs to implement one piece of functionality on a website. It’s time to be worried. I classify this work to live on platforms like Fiverr or the Shopify Partner Directory

Last week I shared how I use Claude Projects to make more Claude Projects. Naturally, I created a Shopify development expert. Specifically a developer that knows how to prompt correctly by listing out phases, inputs, and success metrics

Buttz is a dream client (new site coming soon!). As we get close to launch, they asked me for a size finder that recommends what to pick from their unique sizing system based on height, weight, and body type. My Claude project gave me a plan to make this and I implemented a working prototype in Liquid within 3 hours

It uses the theme’s design system and has a thoughtful experience that’s dynamic to product overlays and page sections. A few years ago this could have been something very out of scope; maybe some agencies would see that the same way now. I saw this as a way to build a better experience than initially planned for an amazing client

Yes, I have a developer & UX brain. Yes, I’m going to have a better output than someone who doesn’t know these things. Yes, LLMs are only getting better. Yes, this experience wasn’t that complicated. More importantly, I see the market for these little function jobs diminishing

Platforms have publicly admitted it. Fiverr's CEO told investors in February 2026 that low-skill work is "being replaced" by AI. Fiverr guided 2026 revenue to $380–$420M, a 3–12% YoY decline (vs. ~$430M in 2025). Are we surprised?

Content creation is superpowered

For those that don’t know. I get 95% of leads/clients through social media.

We’re in the Creator Era, where the playbook is written to build a big following. I’m not the only example of a creator transitioning into a studio, and I won’t be the last.

Industries and websites I post about are very intentional. Analyzing what performs and what doesn’t is the rat-race of posting content. I hate to say it, but AI now makes this easy

I have no idea if analytic exporting has been around. I just learned it. Combined with downloading your top-performing scripts, this keeps me on the algorithm as long as I’m posting consistently

Even better, throw in the data from your lead form and call booking submissions. You can start to correlate what content brings in real value. Case studies are by far what drive income

What I’m struggling with

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In order to do the best work possible. Intersecting design, direction, technology, and strategy is crucial. When you are at the whim of somebody else’s work on one of those things. Complete alignment isn’t guaranteed. This probably sounds vague, but Alex from Mouthwash explains it best here. More to come on this. It’s just relatable to a project right now

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These things are hard to do simultaneously: being hands-on in every project, posting content every day, staying in physical shape, growing your business, growing relationships, remembering to set up a stupid-ass ManyChat flow, and just doing things you said you were going to do in general. The point is, I get a lot of feedback saying I have my shit together when I don’t. At the end of the day, I just keep telling myself I’ll squash any problems with best-in-class work

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I operate off the anxiety of failing. Which is a very common trait in any creative. That was reinforced to me from Brandon Morreale and Jason Eano, two people I see at the top of this creative game. If we didn’t have that anxiety, it’s probably a bad thing, because that means we don’t care about our work or where we end up

Books for creatives that want to learn more business skills

I like easy-to-read books that have high value so I made of list of those here

Take care

Feel free to reply to this email with any recommendations you may find valuable here. Or if it fucking sucks thats probably better feedback. My DMs and email are always open. Thanks again for the support.

Talk next week! - Blaze