Granic · December 2026—present
Granic
- Role
- Co-founder, UI/UX Designer & Developer
- Team
- Started with a co-founder, solo since ideation
- Timeline
- Dec 2026 to present
- Link
- granic.app (waitlist)
- Tools
- Figma, Next.js, React, Tailwind, Postgres (Neon), Vercel
- Overview
- Granic is a deadline tracker for university students. They import everything due from Canvas or Moodle and see what’s urgent. I designed the product, brand and landing page, and built it in code.
Context
University deadlines are scattered across course platforms. Granic pulls them into one customisable table so students can see what needs doing first. It began as a two-person project. My co-founder helped shape what Granic does during ideation, then stepped back, and I took on all the design and development.
Decisions
1. Test demand before building the full app
Before finishing the full app, I put a landing page and waitlist live at granic.app to test whether the idea was worth pursuing as a SaaS. People I’ve spoken to said they like it and would use it, and signups have come in naturally. Trade-off: it’s early signal only. About 12 signups, with no marketing yet, against a target of 1,000.
2. Show the product straight away
I put an image preview of the app directly under the headline, with no fluff between the visitor and the product. An interactive demo follows, split into the three main features: adding deadlines, customising your view, and tracking with stats. Each tab has a few buttons to click through the process. A plain three-column feature grid only described the product and looked boring. Leading with the product means anyone who joins the waitlist does so because they want it, which makes signups a cleaner test of demand.
3. Calendar import over manual entry
I made calendar-file import the core feature. Students already live in Canvas and Moodle and export everything that’s due. Typing deadlines in by hand is a big task, and it’s easy to miss an event.
Build
I designed in Figma and built it in code with Next.js, React and Tailwind, with Postgres on Neon, hosted on Vercel. The landing page is live as a waitlist at granic.app. The full app is still in development.
Outcome
Granic is live at granic.app as a waitlist, with the design system, landing page and interactive demo all designed and built by me. About 12 people have signed up with no marketing yet, and the people I’ve spoken to say they like the idea and would use it. That’s early signal toward my target of 1,000, and it’s the reason I’m building the full app.
Reflection
Building a simple design system before the landing page was my biggest lesson. Solving style and layout together meant the page needed edits, and lost a lot of time refining details I later scrapped. Next time I’d start with the system.
Next project
First Nations Student Support