cody-sims.com
AI-Powered Portfolio & Travel Platform
The problem
Create one useful home for a portfolio, travel journal, recipes, and long-form content without turning each feature into a disconnected product.
My contribution
Sole product designer and full-stack engineer
The approach
Built a typed Next.js client and Express API around shared content workflows, then added Firebase authorization, image processing, structured data, and deterministic end-to-end coverage.
The outcome
A production platform that supports four content domains, nine documented projects, and a reusable admin workflow.
What I learned
The strongest portfolio experiences do more than list technologies: they connect product intent, engineering tradeoffs, and evidence that the system can keep evolving.
Inside the project
Travel Blog
Document travels with photo uploads, location tracking, and interactive world map visualization
Admin Dashboard
Full-featured CMS with rich text editing, image management, and multi-section content management
Interactive Maps
SVG-based world map and US states map showing travel progress and visited locations
Performance Optimized
Lazy loading, image optimization, skeleton states, and code splitting for fast load times