I'm building a Farcaster miniapp and associated Clanker token—an onchain art studio that should be live in the next week or two.

Designing and building the miniapp has been a fascinating learning experience. Two challenges stand out:

Mobile viewport, even on desktop: This requires thoughtful mobile UX while avoiding mobile-specific interactions like dragging, pinching, or horizontal scrolling. I've found it easier to avoid them. Skill issue, probably, but this limitation forces simplicity, which is usually a good thing.

Miniapps as a format: This is meta, but I've started thinking of it like building a house on planet Farcaster. I'm in a place where lots of people are walking around and yelling at each other, and I have the ability to put a door in front of them. The door has to be cool enough for someone to walk through.

Once someone is inside, I need to orient them FAST.

Then I need to give them something to do. A way to participate. I should also provide additional context for those who want to dig deeper.

Despite having access to the Farcaster network, making the studio feel social has been surprisingly difficult. Initially, it felt like a single-player experience.

For the homepage specifically, I've been using a "bulletin board" as my mental model. It's a canvas for dynamic content like notices, inquiries, and directions. I'm trying to anticipate and prioritize the context visitors will want.

This framework helped solve several layout issues, but it didn't immediately make things feel social.

Until I accidentally wrote "billboard" instead of "bulletin board" in a planning document and remembered: I'm selling ad space.

I won't spoil the decisions that followed, but I'll share them once the studio is live.

Side note: I've gotten into the habit of using my art as cover images for my Paragraph posts, even when they're unrelated to the content. In a way, my writing is ad space for my art. And/or my Zora? This post's cover image is 'spacing.' This post is paired with $usersteen. I am a living business.

I'm building a Farcaster miniapp and associated Clanker token—an onchain art studio that should be live in the next week or two.

Designing and building the miniapp has been a fascinating learning experience. Two challenges stand out:

Mobile viewport, even on desktop: This requires thoughtful mobile UX while avoiding mobile-specific interactions like dragging, pinching, or horizontal scrolling. I've found it easier to avoid them. Skill issue, probably, but this limitation forces simplicity, which is usually a good thing.

Miniapps as a format: This is meta, but I've started thinking of it like building a house on planet Farcaster. I'm in a place where lots of people are walking around and yelling at each other, and I have the ability to put a door in front of them. The door has to be cool enough for someone to walk through.

Once someone is inside, I need to orient them FAST.

Then I need to give them something to do. A way to participate. I should also provide additional context for those who want to dig deeper.

Despite having access to the Farcaster network, making the studio feel social has been surprisingly difficult. Initially, it felt like a single-player experience.

For the homepage specifically, I've been using a "bulletin board" as my mental model. It's a canvas for dynamic content like notices, inquiries, and directions. I'm trying to anticipate and prioritize the context visitors will want.

This framework helped solve several layout issues, but it didn't immediately make things feel social.

Until I accidentally wrote "billboard" instead of "bulletin board" in a planning document and remembered: I'm selling ad space.

I won't spoil the decisions that followed, but I'll share them once the studio is live.

Side note: I've gotten into the habit of using my art as cover images for my Paragraph posts, even when they're unrelated to the content. In a way, my writing is ad space for my art. And/or my Zora? This post's cover image is 'spacing.' This post is paired with $usersteen. I am a living business.