My Side Project Journey: Episode 1
This is the first post of many that follows my journey building a side project from start to "finish". These episodes are trailing my actual progress by about 5 months as of this writing. About 3 months ago I started taking weekly screenshots of my work with accompanying notes. This is my attempt to clean up those notes and make them public.
Since this is my first post, I'll summarize the first month or two of ideation. Then for subsequent posts I'll try to split them up to reflect my approximate weekly progress. I hope this will be fun and helpful to follow along with! And of course, I'd love to hear your feedback as the journey unfolds.
May 2020
Project Goals
- To scratch my own itch
- Use tech that I'm interested in
- Has the potential to generate a small income
- Has minimal future maintenance
- NOT to innovate! Find a very simple idea that already has market validation and tune it to my specific use-case.
My Itch (aka The Problem)
I have a history of forgetting birthdays for close friends and family. If I do remember, the most they can expect is a text message or phone call (if they're lucky). I hate this about myself and wish I was better about expressing my love and appreciation for people I care about.
There is one exception. For every holiday, birthday, and anniversary my wife and I always hand-make cards for each other. Usually, we draw a simple silly/punny picture on the front and then write a heartfelt message inside. It's a tradition we've kept since we started dating, and has created a wonderful artifact for us to look back on over the years.
My Scratch (aka The Idea)
So my idea is for a greeting card designer that allows for a more personal touch than other services out there. I want to easily incorporate it with my calendar and routine so that I won't forget to send a card. I want it to reduce the friction of writing the card (gathering materials, deciding what to say, addressing and mailing it), and also just make the whole process more enjoyable so I actually want to use it.
Early Prototypes & Brainstorming
Marvel Screens
Miro Brainstorming Diagrams
I would also try a B2B version of this: Get employers to be reminded of their employees birtdays.