I don’t often user test my sites. With Sketchlet, I’m reaching a point where I can’t avoid it. I need to test the sharing features, find out whether they make sense to other people, and make them more inviting.

Sketchlet grew out of my interest in daily browser games. I’ve tried plenty since Wordle came along, but many fall into a few familiar categories, especially word games and trivia. I also enjoy Drawful, the party game that lets people draw on their phones. A daily drawing app seemed like something worth exploring.

The possibility that it could become someone’s daily habit appeals to me. I like imagining a person stopping by, making a drawing, and seeing what other people have made. Maybe it could become a small third space for some people: somewhere they return to spend a little time together.

That’s an ambition. Now I need to learn what would make someone actually want to come back.

Conjuring a drawing studio

Building Sketchlet has included conjuring a drawing studio out of thin air with Codex. Getting working drawing tools from prompts is exciting, but it also gives me a lot to evaluate. I spend time using the tools, noticing details that feel awkward, and trying to describe what should change.

I can be very particular about how something behaves without having the technical expertise to immediately understand why it behaves that way. That makes the process a combination of experimentation, explanation, and trying again.

The drawing studio is only part of the application. I’ve also had to get authentication and form clients set up. Those pieces make the project more involved than a canvas you can doodle on, and they introduce more things that need to work together.

Finding the right visual design took a long time too. I wanted something that fit the playful premise and still looked professional. The design needed to make room for a silly drawing while giving the application enough coherence to feel considered.

Where my own testing runs out

Using the drawing tools myself helps me identify things to refine. Testing sharing means involving someone else.

I want to know whether a person understands how to share something, whether the experience feels inviting, and whether it gives them a reason to involve a friend. I can make decisions about those things while building, but I need to see what happens when another person encounters them.

This feels like an important step for the project. I’m interested in making an app that people use regularly, and that means paying attention to more than whether a feature functions. I need to find out what people enjoy enough to repeat.

A place for a group

My next goal is to add ways for groups to interact inside Sketchlet. One possibility is a filter over the image gallery that shows only work from your groups. It could give people a way to follow a smaller, familiar circle within the app.

I haven’t started building that yet. It’s a direction I want to explore as I test the sharing experience and learn more about how people might use the site together.

For now, the interesting challenge is getting beyond my own experience of the prototype. I’ve spent a lot of time deciding how Sketchlet should look and behave. The next step is to put it in front of other people and pay attention.

Visit Sketchlet or read the project overview.