Let's Build A Project: GHOTIES (Day 1)
Introduction
As they say, “There’s no better way to spend the break than building a solution.” Actually, I can’t recall anyone ever saying that, but that’s what I’m going with. As a product designer—or a product designer in training—the only way to improve is to create. Sure, you can read and review other people’s designs, but you also need to build solutions and keep optimizing. It’s a rinse-and-repeat process. Over time, you’ll refine your taste, and your work will improve dramatically.
While everyone else is in a festive mood, I’ve decided to start a new project: GHOSTIES.
What Is GHOSTIES?
GHOSTIES is a ghostwriter marketplace inspired by my own struggles earlier this year while trying to find a ghostwriter for a project.
Here’s what happened:
The first ghostwriter I hired sent me an incomplete outline and then disappeared—ironically ghosting me.
The second ghostwriter delivered work that was rejected by the company I was working with, leaving me with a detailed critique of everything wrong with the piece.
Eventually, I gave up. Part of the issue was my budget, and part of it was that the Facebook marketplace wasn’t the ideal place to find quality writing. Other freelancing platforms were no better—they often bury talented writers under a flood of oversaturated options that fail to meet both writing quality and budgetary needs.
I don’t enjoy scouring the internet for solutions, so I decided to create one instead. Though this series will only cover the product design aspect of the journey ( I don’t have developers or funds to do it full-scale), I want to use it as an opportunity to take people through my process of taking a design from start to finish.
A Quick Disclaimer
Before diving in, it’s fair to say that my design process, though rooted in standard methods, isn’t as straightforward or polished as a seasoned professional’s. I’ve been in the design space for less than a year, and actively designing for even less time.
Here’s what to expect:
A somewhat chaotic but functional design journey.
Insights into my thought process and how I approach challenges.
A mix of learning and entertainment as we tackle this project together.
Into The Project
A lot of people are quick to build projects but I enjoy taking my time and allowing inspiration to seep in. I do not enjoy rushing especially on personal projects, so this day one is well, a day 1. I focused on ironing out the kinks and getting my ideas on paper. I also enlisted the help of AI to bounce around ideas and things I may not have noted about the process. For example: I queried for issues that ghostwriters usually had and thought of features that solved those issues. Then I also integrated the issues I’ve had as both a ghostwriter and a client and thought of solutions for them.
Some features seemed to stand out and others took a bit longer to find. It seemed obvious to allow for reviews but I nearly neglected the need for plagiarism checkers and also brief aids that would help in getting a decent brief for the writers. I also had to think of a way to combat potential platform saturation, which is certainly an issue in modern-day freelancing. The top stay up and those at the bottom find it hard to get customers without transferring some of their already existing customer’s to the platform to boost their performance.
The oversaturation issue was what I struggled with the most. People enjoy having their work in hands that are tested and trusted. The only way to turn their head was to have users that were tested and trusted by the platform instead. That would mean that I had to have a ranking system for newer writers on the platform. It would not be possible to assess all works individually so I thought it best that with permission from the writer, AI would assess the work. But if it were to be implemented. The AI would have to be trained with different styles of writing as well as not be allowed to replicate any writer’s writing.
And the writers being pushed out would have to be rotated on perhaps a monthly basis. I did a little more thinking and moved on to other features. Like how orders would be confirmed and other things that would be looked into more on day two.
The Proof
Without proof of work, there’s no difference between doing the work and just telling a good story.
My process always begins with raw ideas on paper before moving to digital tools like Figma. Attached below are the initial plans for the GHOSTIES project (subject to change).
