IN YOUR POCKET
Apps for the everyday.
A little evidence that your effort is adding up. An answer to “what should we do tonight?” A way to earn a little more play. Ordinary problems make good starting points.
J METHOD APPS / INDEPENDENT BY DESIGNUseful by design.
Useful by design.
Playful by default.
A tiny independent studio in the Pacific Northwest. Small, opinionated software — built like systems that have to run, shipped like something you’ll want to open again tomorrow. And we have a very good time doing it.
Different screens.
Same question.
A journal, a date night, a website. Different things to build; the same question underneath: what would make this better for the person using it?
ON THE OPEN WEB
Websites with a point of view.
A website should sound like you and make it easy to find what matters. Then give someone a reason to remember it after the tab closes.
Curiosity has a method.
Get curious. Make a map. Build something you can try. Here’s how that thinking plays out, using DATE as an example.
STEP 01 / THE METHOD
Find the friction.
Start with the moment that feels harder than it should. Ask what someone is trying to do, what gets in their way, and whether a new app is actually the answer.
THINKING IT THROUGH / DATE
Why does choosing a date feel like another chore?
WHAT WE’RE WORKING TOWARDA real problem worth solving.
THE JONES METHOD / WHY THE “J”
- Stay curious. Understand reality. Find the human.
- Reveal the system, then build early, refine relentlessly.
- Keep removing what doesn’t belong, until the answer feels inevitable.
Some things don’t
get cut for time.
A few things we’re opinionated about. They apply to every cabinet.
Built to run
The real test is how it behaves in your hands, not how it looks in a screenshot. The everyday path, the awkward edge case, the thing you tap twice because nothing seemed to happen. Those all count.
Privacy is a design decision
Ask what data a feature actually needs. Prefer keeping it on the device where practical, and be clear about what leaves it.
Small on purpose
A crew of one has good reasons to be particular about what gets built. Every feature earns its slot or gets cut.
Tools should root for you
Leave guilt trips and manipulative patterns out of the build. A missed day shouldn’t feel like a personal failure.
The details do the talking
An unhealthy amount of attention goes to things most people never notice. Nobody sees them; everyone feels them.
Fun is a feature
This studio exists because building is fun. If a tool feels joyless, that’s a bug. Playfulness ships in the box.
ONE PERSON BEHIND THE COUNTER
Meet Player 1.
Justin Jones. Engineer, builder, and the reason there are this many side projects.
About Justin ↗THERE’S ROOM FOR A PLAYER 2
Bring your “what if.”
A rough sketch, a stubborn problem, or a “could this actually exist?” is plenty to start with.
Start a conversation ↗How working together works ↗NEXT UP / IN YOUR INBOXA new idea. A new release.
A new idea. A new release.
The occasional cheat code.
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