/projects

Apps and experiments—design, code, and AI. Most of my time goes to the first two.

Main focus

Where most of my time goes right now.

Also building

Live, shipping, and still getting attention.

More projects

Shipped and paused.

Archive

23 earlier projects, blogs, and shops—going back to 2008.

2025
- ChurchSync
  A database for churches that would be very flexible.
2023
- Copact App
  A past idea from the portfolio archive; not actively developed.
2022
- Chrchlink Directory
  A church directory with a link in bio for churches.
- Sparrow Education
  An education platform.
- Perch App
  A fresh take on property management software where tenants had a better experience.
2021
- Lazwear Ecommerce Shop
  What about a line of church merch? The first and only collection was called “Mirror” and sold and printed 26 shirts.
- Hike App
  After going to therapy for the first time I realized families need better tools. This was a family journaling app that ironically was worked on more after my divorce, made it into development, but then all of the sudden—all erased.
2020
- Neighbormade App
  A barter system inspired by the Amazon locker system. Think community garden meets Amazon locker.
- Shift Pace Drive Blog
  A racing blog, community, and exploring what a Figjam meets fantasy league.
2019
- Handiwork App
  My first app idea was to solve my own problem—Planning Center. I would start with groups and go from there.
- Lilo Loved Ecommerce Shop
  A dog bath products brand.
2018
- Little Sea & Me Children Toys & Education
  A children’s brand that also equips parents.
2015
- Decent Soap Ecommerce Shop
  A cold-pressed soap company that never started but the play on “decent” was too good to not keep renewing the domain until 2025.
2013
- Made in DSM Blog
  Showcasing and sharing what local creatives, makers, and businesses were doing in Des Moines, Iowa. We did vlogs, events, and a high-engaging newsletter.
2012
- Resimplify Blog
  A design blog that went through so many iterations. One of those being my personal site. But heyderekj.com was born and Resimplify was retired.
2010
- UniqueBlog Blog
  A blog about blogging that was popular and run alongside Blogussion.
- LifeNotion Blog
  A college lifestyle tips blog focused on technology.
- NotionUp
  A collective and constant reminder that this domain would later be re-registered by THE Notion.
2009
- Scio7 Podcast Network
  A bite-sized podcast network inspired by 5by5.
- Cogitav
  All I know is I was thinking big with this blog but it only lasted over the summer.
- City Planning Blog Blog
  A city planning blog where I documented what I learned as I studied this at Iowa State University.
2008
- Influlive
  Another made in Blogger project that started my blogging journey.
- FeedMe! Post Aggregate
  My first idea come from RSS feeds, popularity of Digg, and having more curated content. Made in Blogger.