Solo Product Initiative • 2024
Casper: AI Freelancer Assistant
Overview
Designed an AI assistant that automated admin work for 300+ freelancers, saving 6–8 hours weekly across six recurring tasks while preserving tone and trust in client communication.
Role: Founder, Lead Designer
Scope: UX, AI System, Prototype
Timeline: 4 months (concept → launch)
Stack: Figma, Next.js, Tailwind, LangChain
Context
Casper is an AI freelancer assistant that automates client communication; briefs, follow-ups, invoicing, and scope clarifications. It acts like a digital ghost beside every creative, handling the admin work that drains time and energy.
I interviewed 30+ freelancers, and they all said the same thing: “The work isn’t the problem, it’s the clients.” Burnout came from juggling threads: checking briefs, chasing payments, remembering who owed what. The average creative lost 6–8 hours a week to unbilled admin.
The challenge: freelancers were scared to let AI send messages to clients because one wrong tone could damage relationships they'd spent years building. Most AI tools felt transactional. Casper needed to feel relational.
My Role & Approach
I led full product design, conversational UX, and the tone intelligence system. I also built the early interactive prototype in Next.js to validate the core interaction model with real freelancers.
Our hypothesis: if you could externalize your mental load into a trusted assistant, you’d make better art, and better money. But trust required transparency. Three design principles guided the build:
- Transparency = Trust: AI must explain what it’s doing, always.
- Tone Intelligence: Communication should adapt to mood, not mimic corporate email.
- Ghost, not Bot: Casper should assist quietly, not interrupt loudly.
Solution
Casper wasn’t built to automate freelancers, it was built to amplify their calm. Every project became a quiet, threaded conversation between you, your client, and the ghost beside you.
Threaded Assistant Pattern: No panels, no tables, just rhythm. Each project becomes a timeline where you see context at a glance; “Followed up 2d ago,” “Invoice sent,” “Client viewed file.” The interface breathes with your workflow instead of demanding attention.
Tone Intelligence: Each client gets mapped to a tonal profile; Formal, Friendly, Playful, Professional. Casper learns from your previous messages and writes drafts that sound like you. When freelancers edit messages, Casper remembers their voice. Rated 4.7/5 for "feels like me."
Smart Inbox: Casper auto-summarizes client threads by priority and emotion. Follow-ups go out automatically but sound human. Invoices are drafted, tracked, and followed up with polite persistence. Everything Casper does is explained before it happens, trust through visibility.
Impact
Casper entered private beta with 300+ freelancers; designers, photographers, copywriters. The results proved that emotional design is a feature, not a flourish:
- 6–8 hours saved weekly on unbilled admin work
- 6 tasks automated per week (follow-ups, invoice tracking, client updates)
- 90% reported calmer communication because Casper handled urgency preemptively
- 4.7/5 tone accuracy (“feels like me”) proving AI can respect human voice
- 35% increase in client response rates through consistent follow-through
This project changed how I think about AI assistants. Most AI products shout intelligence, but Casper whispers competence. People don’t resist automation because they fear it; they resist it because they can’t see how it thinks. Transparency isn’t just a feature; it’s the foundation of trust.
“Casper follows up on clients before my anxiety does.” — Beta user
Solo Product Initiative • 2024
Casper: AI Freelancer Assistant
Overview
Designed an AI assistant that automated admin work for 300+ freelancers, saving 6–8 hours weekly across six recurring tasks while preserving tone and trust in client communication.
Role: Founder, Lead Designer
Scope: UX, AI System, Prototype
Timeline: 4 months (concept → launch)
Stack: Figma, Next.js, Tailwind, LangChain
Context
Casper is an AI freelancer assistant that automates client communication; briefs, follow-ups, invoicing, and scope clarifications. It acts like a digital ghost beside every creative, handling the admin work that drains time and energy.
I interviewed 30+ freelancers, and they all said the same thing: “The work isn’t the problem, it’s the clients.” Burnout came from juggling threads: checking briefs, chasing payments, remembering who owed what. The average creative lost 6–8 hours a week to unbilled admin.
The challenge: freelancers were scared to let AI send messages to clients because one wrong tone could damage relationships they'd spent years building. Most AI tools felt transactional. Casper needed to feel relational.
My Role & Approach
I led full product design, conversational UX, and the tone intelligence system. I also built the early interactive prototype in Next.js to validate the core interaction model with real freelancers.
Our hypothesis: if you could externalize your mental load into a trusted assistant, you’d make better art, and better money. But trust required transparency. Three design principles guided the build:
- Transparency = Trust: AI must explain what it’s doing, always.
- Tone Intelligence: Communication should adapt to mood, not mimic corporate email.
- Ghost, not Bot: Casper should assist quietly, not interrupt loudly.
Solution
Casper wasn’t built to automate freelancers, it was built to amplify their calm. Every project became a quiet, threaded conversation between you, your client, and the ghost beside you.
Threaded Assistant Pattern: No panels, no tables, just rhythm. Each project becomes a timeline where you see context at a glance; “Followed up 2d ago,” “Invoice sent,” “Client viewed file.” The interface breathes with your workflow instead of demanding attention.
Tone Intelligence: Each client gets mapped to a tonal profile; Formal, Friendly, Playful, Professional. Casper learns from your previous messages and writes drafts that sound like you. When freelancers edit messages, Casper remembers their voice. Rated 4.7/5 for "feels like me."
Smart Inbox: Casper auto-summarizes client threads by priority and emotion. Follow-ups go out automatically but sound human. Invoices are drafted, tracked, and followed up with polite persistence. Everything Casper does is explained before it happens, trust through visibility.
Impact
Casper entered private beta with 300+ freelancers; designers, photographers, copywriters. The results proved that emotional design is a feature, not a flourish:
- 6–8 hours saved weekly on unbilled admin work
- 6 tasks automated per week (follow-ups, invoice tracking, client updates)
- 90% reported calmer communication because Casper handled urgency preemptively
- 4.7/5 tone accuracy (“feels like me”) proving AI can respect human voice
- 35% increase in client response rates through consistent follow-through
This project changed how I think about AI assistants. Most AI products shout intelligence, but Casper whispers competence. People don’t resist automation because they fear it; they resist it because they can’t see how it thinks. Transparency isn’t just a feature; it’s the foundation of trust.
“Casper follows up on clients before my anxiety does.” — Beta user
Solo Product Initiative • 2024
Casper: AI Freelancer Assistant
Overview
Designed an AI assistant that automated admin work for 300+ freelancers, saving 6–8 hours weekly across six recurring tasks while preserving tone and trust in client communication.
Role: Founder, Lead Designer
Scope: UX, AI System, Prototype
Timeline: 4 months (concept → launch)
Stack: Figma, Next.js, Tailwind, LangChain
Context
Casper is an AI freelancer assistant that automates client communication; briefs, follow-ups, invoicing, and scope clarifications. It acts like a digital ghost beside every creative, handling the admin work that drains time and energy.
I interviewed 30+ freelancers, and they all said the same thing: “The work isn’t the problem, it’s the clients.” Burnout came from juggling threads: checking briefs, chasing payments, remembering who owed what. The average creative lost 6–8 hours a week to unbilled admin.
The challenge: freelancers were scared to let AI send messages to clients because one wrong tone could damage relationships they'd spent years building. Most AI tools felt transactional. Casper needed to feel relational.
My Role & Approach
I led full product design, conversational UX, and the tone intelligence system. I also built the early interactive prototype in Next.js to validate the core interaction model with real freelancers.
Our hypothesis: if you could externalize your mental load into a trusted assistant, you’d make better art, and better money. But trust required transparency. Three design principles guided the build:
- Transparency = Trust: AI must explain what it’s doing, always.
- Tone Intelligence: Communication should adapt to mood, not mimic corporate email.
- Ghost, not Bot: Casper should assist quietly, not interrupt loudly.
Solution
Casper wasn’t built to automate freelancers, it was built to amplify their calm. Every project became a quiet, threaded conversation between you, your client, and the ghost beside you.
Threaded Assistant Pattern: No panels, no tables, just rhythm. Each project becomes a timeline where you see context at a glance; “Followed up 2d ago,” “Invoice sent,” “Client viewed file.” The interface breathes with your workflow instead of demanding attention.
Tone Intelligence: Each client gets mapped to a tonal profile; Formal, Friendly, Playful, Professional. Casper learns from your previous messages and writes drafts that sound like you. When freelancers edit messages, Casper remembers their voice. Rated 4.7/5 for "feels like me."
Smart Inbox: Casper auto-summarizes client threads by priority and emotion. Follow-ups go out automatically but sound human. Invoices are drafted, tracked, and followed up with polite persistence. Everything Casper does is explained before it happens, trust through visibility.
Impact
Casper entered private beta with 300+ freelancers; designers, photographers, copywriters. The results proved that emotional design is a feature, not a flourish:
- 6–8 hours saved weekly on unbilled admin work
- 6 tasks automated per week (follow-ups, invoice tracking, client updates)
- 90% reported calmer communication because Casper handled urgency preemptively
- 4.7/5 tone accuracy (“feels like me”) proving AI can respect human voice
- 35% increase in client response rates through consistent follow-through
This project changed how I think about AI assistants. Most AI products shout intelligence, but Casper whispers competence. People don’t resist automation because they fear it; they resist it because they can’t see how it thinks. Transparency isn’t just a feature; it’s the foundation of trust.
“Casper follows up on clients before my anxiety does.” — Beta user