John Lee | Playground

Exploring by building.

Experiments, prototypes, and product ideas I use to sharpen product thinking through making.

Hand-drawn loop of idea, test, learn, and refine with the note test small, learn fast

Playground highlight

Now playing

Product Sprint.

Chrome Dino for product people. Jump over unclear specs, scope creep, P0 fires, and sync chairs, then chase your best score on the leaderboard.

Play game →
10 hazards
5 sprite states
Live leaderboard

Top score

Recent experiments

Build notes from things I shipped, broke, and learned from.

BENCH Pose Lab with analysis summary, rep lifecycle session timeline, and Rep 1 phase breakdown

Oct 2026

Active experiment

BENCH | from rep counter to verified local leaderboard

The pivot: I started by counting reps with a phone camera. I ended up building a local leaderboard around video evidence, uncertain computer vision, and human verification.

  • Status Active experiment
  • MediaPipe

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Calmo production homepage with blurred interior, hand-drawn logo mark, and Desserts, coffee & calm headline

Aug 2026

Calmo Cafe | making it look like the room

The question: make a café site feel warm when every template looks the same?

  • Designed in 2 weeks
  • ChatGPT

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Jul 2026

Building Product Sprint

The challenge: scope a bloated game idea down to one button and still ship it?

  • Built in 3 weeks
  • Next.js

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Earlier builds

More experiments in the archive.

This is my lab.

Not everything here is polished. That's intentional. Ship, learn, and iterate.