PHRAISIER
Personal Project // March 2023
This was an idea I had around the time Wordle and AI generated images were at a peak of popularity. Basically, AI would generate an image each day based on a simple phrase, and users would try and guess the phrase from clues in the imagery.
Quick Summary
The Challenge
Since AI is still relatively new, many people are not familiar with how to use it to generate an image. How might I simplify and at the same time educate users playing the game so that they understand and can be successful in their guesses?
The Solution
Since most users were familiar with Wordle, I wanted to utilize a similar game pattern to avoid throwing too many new things at those playing for their first time. I also simplified the phrases down to more common words, and removed the need to guess words like “a”, “the”, “on”, etc. to avoid users unnecessarily burning guesses.
The Results
PhrAIsier is set to soft launch on November 1st, 2023. The goal being to share it with friends, co workers, etc. to identify and missed opportunities or problem areas. If any final tweaks are needed, I’ll make those updates before I begin the social media marketing campaign and actual launch. A few things I’ll be keeping in mind during this next phase:
Data and usage analytics
Ad creatives to run on social media to try and direct traffic to the game
Users’ success/fail rates with each puzzle
Iterations
The best part of working on personal projects is the freedom to change designs as new features or ideas come to mind. As I user tested concepts with close friends I was able to make necessary tweaks to ensure the game was simple and fun.
The results of a couple weeks of tinkering through an idea
Technical Scoping
A friend of mine, and very talented developer, liked the idea when I mentioned it and offered to help me get it off the ground. I walked him through the details and we began to scope out what an MVP launch should look like:
Feature Value Matrix
The Launch
PhrAIsier will be soft launching on November 1st, 2023 and I will be speaking with users about their experiences to see what can be improved prior to a full on marketing campaign
Next Steps
First and foremost, I want to see how users respond (Do they like it? Is it fun? Do they come back? etc). If there’s an audience, no matter how small, I’d like to focus on the following:
Monetization
Of all things, ads that are disruptive to an experience are the bane of my existence. Therefore I’d like to explore how to optimize ads or sponsors without diluting the gameplay.
Feature Enhancement
Continue building the features from the feature value matrix and building off the features already there.
Data & Feedback
Since this app was just usability tested amongst friends and family I’m excited to get some quantitative user data to figure out where friction points may be.
Self Sustaining
The cool part of AI is that it can potentially take over monotonous work I’d otherwise be doing by hand. In this case, image generation.
Growth Opportunities
The success of Wordle gives me hope that there could potentially be an appetite for a product like this. Whether it’s acquisition, word of mouth, etc, i’d like to see how big this could get!