Imprint Engine
Year
2023
My role
- UX designer
What I did
- Discovery & concept
- Figma deliverables
- Front end development
The right gift for the right person using the power of ChatGPT.
Imprint Engine doesn’t just make cool merch — we make what people actually want. The dev team had a wild idea: why not team up with ChatGPT to match products to people? Need a thank you gift or a work anniversary surprise? We set out to build a proof of concept Chrome plugin to make finding the perfect gift a breeze!
Project Summary
- Created a new type of solution to help customers with decision paralysis.
- Provided a new vertical for Imprint Engine to generate revenue with AI.
- Got first-hand experience with what ChatGPT can add to UX. 🤖
- Basically had fun exploring cool new blue sky ideas. 💜
New friends
Building cool ideas
While I was at Imprint Engine, we acquired the company Bluebird, along with their slick SaaS platform for merchandise fulfillment. One of Bluebird’s standout features was its ability to let users pick out personalized gifts, bundle them up, and ship them off to just the right people with ease.
The big idea? Move beyond the world of forgettable swag. Instead, Bluebird aimed to make merch meaningful—thoughtful, personal, and tailored to the individual. That’s no small feat in an industry that’s struggled with one-size-fits-all gifting for years.
Let’s see what
this can do
To tackle this, Bluebird’s CEO had a bold plan: use AI to scan a person’s public LinkedIn profile and recommend gifts based on their interests. Smart, right? Personalized gifting, powered by data.
We didn’t just plug in the AI—we fine-tuned the prompts to actually understand people based on their public profiles. Once the AI brain was in place, I designed a seamless experience that connected effortlessly to your Bluebird account.
Our guiding principle? Make it feel futuristic and intelligent, without overwhelming users with techy stuff. Smart gifting, made simple.
Key learnings
- Choosing a gift is hard – especially in a professional environment
- Hide the magic trick – this should feel like something amazing
- Go deeper to build value – beyond the expected gifts in our catalog
- Make it part of the funnel – all roads should lead to an order
How can we make this convenient?
Even though this was a proof of concept, our ultimate goal was to end up with something that our customers could use. Constructing a query and handing it off to ChatGPT was easy enough, but to make the experience feel like a product feature, we chose to build it as a Chrome browser plugin.
Project Outcome
Proved the value AI could provide
The team was able to go from idea to proof of concept in just a few weeks. The buzz that this feature created really demonstrated that we were on to something. We began piloting the browser extension with selected clients to gauge their interest. The initial response suggested it could be a useful tool, especially for internal HR and sales teams.
Embracing AI initiatives
In tech, it’s easy to get jaded. Every few years, a new buzzword takes over… Web 2.0, the cloud, blockchain… and after a while, you stop paying attention. That’s exactly how I felt when AI arrived. It all seemed like hype.
But I’m really glad we took the time to run this small experiment. It helped me see that AI can be more than just a flashy demo: it can actually solve real problems. Turns out, the CEO of Bluebird felt the same way. They ended up launching a whole new AI-focused company called Merch.ai
Sometimes, it’s worth just building the silly thing. ❤️
About Tim
Tim Wilsie is a UX and product designer with 15+ years of crafting intuitive, joyful, and even fun products and digital experiences for e-commerce, video games, and more. He is an avid contributor to open source projects, and co-creator of the Zaparoo platform that bridges digital collections to physical objects. He’s often found speaking about design, art, games, and their intersections.