How do you make a stranger remember you? Not with a LinkedIn URL on a business card. You give them something they didn't expect.
Ask Esmeralda is a fortune-telling experience disguised as a networking tool. Someone receives a card, scans it out of curiosity, asks a question, and gets a personalized AI-generated fortune. Somewhere along the way, they find out who made it. The project is part AI experiment, part personal branding, part design strategy. I designed the experience, wrote the prompt, built the site, and planned the distribution. All solo, all with AI assistance.
The card looks like something you'd pick up from a fortune teller's table: vintage typography, a zodiac wheel, aged parchment texture. Nothing about it says "UX designer looking for work." That's the point.
It includes a QR code, a URL, and a promo code: HIRE-ROIE. The code is a wink. The kind of detail that makes someone smile and remember you three weeks later when a design lead role opens up.
The format is deliberate. A regular business card communicates credentials. This one creates an experience. The card is the top of a funnel that ends at my portfolio, but the person holding it doesn't know that yet.
The physical card: vintage fortune teller aesthetic, QR code, and a promo code that winks.
The site opens with swirling clouds that slowly part to reveal a single input field: "What do you seek?" The user types a question and hits Reveal Fortune. The clouds wash back over the screen while the AI generates a response. A few seconds later, a fortune appears on a vintage parchment card.
Every fortune is unique. The AI responds to what you actually asked, not a random horoscope. A career question gets career-flavored mystery. A silly question gets a straight-faced answer. The tone always matches.
I spent real time on the prompt. Esmeralda has a banned word list (no "tapestry," no "whispers," no "journey"), forced variety in sentence structure, and instructions to ground every fortune in one tangible detail: a color, a number, a gesture. The goal was fortunes that feel half-remembered, like something you already knew but couldn't name.
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After receiving a fortune, the user can share it. There's also a small (i) icon that opens a modal: "A mystical fortune experience created by Roie Shalom," with links to my portfolio and LinkedIn.
The connection isn't forced. There's no popup, no redirect, no "hire me" banner. Just a curious person who had a good time, and a door left open for them to walk through if they want to know more.
"No popup, no redirect, no 'hire me' banner. Just a door left open."
Behind the scenes, every question is logged with location data in Airtable. I plan to use that data to understand who's engaging and where the cards are traveling.
One fortune at a time, one scan at a time.
Curious? Ask Esmeralda yourself.
