Launching: Mini Printer Pal!!!

my first solo project! ✨

Hello my friends!!!

OK……… so it took a few weeks longer than I thought it would lol BUT IT’S HERE!!

Introducing ✨ Mini Printer Pal ✨, a free and open source tool that lets you edit photos and graphics for printing to the Phomemo M02S.

Check out the links below:

• 🖨️ https://vrklovespaper.itch.io/miniprinterpal - You can download the MacOS app here

• 🖨️ https://miniprinterpal.netlify.app/ - Or try out the web version if you don’t have MacOS (or don’t want to install something)

• 📼 https://youtu.be/fICQEapK0z4 - I also worked really hard on this 4 minute video lol 😂 so I’d love if you watched this too!!

It was so rewarding to build this!! It felt so good to build something completely on my own, from concept to design to implementation to the promo video. Don’t get me wrong, I also love building software as part of a team! But after 10+ years of being a small slice of much larger pies, it was a breath of fresh air to bake a little pie all on my own 🥧

(… that analogy is imperfect but you know what I mean!!)

♡ vrk

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🥳 Accomplished!!

this is my favorite part of my design lol

I’ve been playing Personal 5 Royal (so close to finishing this too!!) and every time you leave a dungeon, there’s this satisfying moment where it lists out everything you accomplished in your time there, even if you haven’t finished the dungeon yet.

And so I feel like I want to list out some things I accomplished in Mini Printer Pal!!! 😤

OK pretend these animate like this:

• 💡 Used Figma to design software for the first time!!!!!!

  • I am so proud of this!!! Design is HARD y’all and every designer I know is like S-tier elite level genius and soooo I’m proud that I tried my best and just finished something 😂

  • Also wow I am terrible at Figma, my files are chaos

• 💡 Learned ~every variation of the web bluetooth API

  • begrudgingly

• 💡 Learned Electron & how to ship an Electron-powered MacOS app

  • lol turned out this was an ambitious choice for project #1

• 💡 Didn’t abandon the project 2 days in

  • I almost did…!

• 💡 Made this video in ONE DAY

  • Granted the video is only 4 min long and it took me ~12 hours LOL but I feel like my video production skills have leveled up a little!!!

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🔮 What’s next?

besides like making a ton more stickers

Well I know what I’m not doing in August: Shipping a standalone MacOS app on Electron that I designed and implemented end-to-end including promo video 😂

And I’m not gonna work too much more on Mini Printer Pal either! Might do a few bug fixes or make some follow-up content, but otherwise I’m considering that project done, and want to move onto the next thing ✅

“What’s the next thing?”

Some potential options:

• Cobble together the raspberry pi stuff I ordered a few weeks ago for fortune telling prototype

  • wow not another pie reference

• Make a stationery zine with a friend or two 🌷

• Practice those dinos

• Publish an essay I’ve been working on ✏️

• Relax and enjoy NYC

• Maybe start thinking about software meets photo albums 🖼️

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⛱️ miscellaneous

• My previous company’s product launched publicly too!! (y’know we’re just two peer entities, launching software of similar size and caliber) Try Arc if you haven’t already 💫

• omg….. I….. how are people so smart and talented

  • this one is so good too 😭

• newjeans really blessed us this summer

• the focaccia at daytime is SO!!!! unbelievably!!!! delicious!!!! it’s only available at like 12pm on weekends or something and it’s uhhhhh quite pricey but omg worth it worth it worth it

• I went to chez ma tante with my friend Jinny a few weeks ago for brunch and a perfect brunch might be, the breakfast sandwich and the pancakes at chez ma tante, split between two friends 💕