Digitizing open when letters
For valentine's day, I designed & built a web app that lets you create, design and share a collection of digital open when letters.
Role
Design Engineer & Growth
Tools
Skills
Timeline
December - February 2026
Solution
A web app to create digital open when letters, including a canvas-based editor and private collection/letter sharing that requires no account.
Impact
65k+ collections created
64k+ letters written
20k+ shares
Opportunity
Before a stint of long distance, I planned to create an open when letter collection for my partner.
Open when letters are a widely loved, traditionally handmade gift idea, but there was no dedicated digital solution. I decided to digitize open when letters for modern relationships in a way that honoured what makes it so special, while also taking advantage of what a digital format unlocks.
Process
Definition
Before opening Figma, I used ChatGPT as a thinking partner to draft a lightweight PRD, surface edge cases, and challenge my assumptions. I paired this with independent landscape research to understand where existing tools fell short. I mapped out a prioritized roadmap to keep scope focused.
Roadmap
Using these insights, I established guiding principles for the project:
Private by default: No accounts, no friction, no exposure. Privacy is baked into the architecture, not bolted on.
Personalization over polish: A letter that feels handmade beats one that looks perfect. Prioritize user expression over pre-made templates & defaults.
Effortless to start: Remove every barrier to beginning and then get out of their way
Design
I mapped out user flows in Figma, dissecting both the sending and receiving journeys end-to-end, noting product touchpoints at each stage and identifying opportunities to improve the experience. I designed the key screens in Figma, establishing the colour scheme, typography and visual language that would carry through the product.
See journey maps
Build
I built the product myself using Antigravity and Claude Code where I directed architecture, debugging, and implementation decisions throughout.
Solution
Getting started
There's no account required to create or receive a collection. To keep the experience friction-free, access is handled through private links.
Gathering inspiration is a part of the process for anyone creating an open when collection so I created a guide using my own platform and a sample that gives a tangible sense of what's possible.
Guide: provides instructions and inspiration for letters (open when you need ideas)
Sample: showcases an example of a collection
Letters in the "Guide" collection
Backgrounds
Background sit behind the letter to set the mood and tone of the letter exactly right. While I have 10 different pre-sets, users can add a custom colour or image as their background as well.
Stickers
Users can add even more personality to their letters using a collection of pre-set stickers ranging from decorative objects to photo frames (I snuck a sticker of my cat in there). All stickers are drag and drop.
Sticker collection
Photocard
Inspired by the physical tradition of tucking meaningful surprises like photos or gift cards into letters, I designed an optional photo card feature that lives outside the letter. This was the first step towards a more multi-layered digital gift, while maintaining a sense of tactility to the experience.
Impact
With some word of mouth and viral reels showcasing openwhenletters.app, the product grew organically to reach over 640k users who created 50k letters with 50,000 shared!
The viral reel
My intro reel (not as viral)
Some of the loveeeee :)
Key Learnings
01
Implementation awareness
Building the product myself gave me first-hand understanding of front-end implementation constraints like security, database architecture, and deployment. Knowing what's expensive to build, what introduces risk, and what's actually more simple than I though changed how I design.
02
Product management
I developed a PM's eye maintaining a pulse on user engagement, assessing tradeoffs, and making prioritization calls.
03
Wearing multiple hats makes you a fuller designer
The biggest takeaway wasn't a single skill. I managed everything from product to engineering to growth which gave me a better understanding of what it takes to bring a product to life and to market.
