KLMN Studio is run by Nick out of Atlanta. It's nights-and-weekends work, not a startup. Every project gets built with a specific person in mind, and co-designed with someone who brings a perspective I can't.
Two products in development right now: Plushie Scout and Sayward. Both made with family.
Plushie Scout is a community-pinned map of stores that carry Jellycats, Squishmallows, Sonny Angels, Build-A-Bears, Ty Beanies, and Slumberkins. Drop a pin when you spot one. Snap a photo. Leave a scout note. See where other people have been.
It's a family project. My kids are the co-designers. They light up at plushie displays and made me realize there's no good way to know which stores carry which. They've shaped everything from the rank names to which brands ship in v1.
The app uses scouting language. Users are scouts, stores are discoveries, achievements are patches, the profile is a field journal. Earnable, not addictive. No streaks, no daily nags. Viewing the map is always free.
Sayward is a connection ritual for long-married couples. Co-designed inside my own marriage, with Mel. It prepares each of you privately during the week, then brings you together for one unhurried conversation. You arrive ready — not raw.
It changes one thing: you each do the noticing alone, beforehand. Jot the moments that brought you close or pulled you apart, in your own words. A quiet AI helps you find what you actually mean, then keeps it private to you. When you sit down together, the hard part — finding the words — is already behind you.
The AI never speaks for one of you to the other. It helps a person find their own words — never the messenger, never the therapist, never in the room when you talk. No connection score, no streaks, no ads. It's maintenance for couples who are basically okay and want to stay that way, not rescue. One subscription covers both partners.
The studio is built around three constraints. Each project is anchored in a real relationship. Plushie Scout and Sayward are each made with someone whose perspective the product depends on. Co-designer isn't a title here. It's the actual design partnership.
The work is sized to a creative life, not a market. I'm not raising money. I'm not chasing scale for its own sake. I want to build a small number of products with serious craft, ship them well, and let them find the people they're for.
Earnable, not addictive. No streaks. No engagement loops. No urgency manufactured to manipulate. Patches are earned by doing the thing the app is for, not by opening it every day. If you forget about my app for a month and come back when you actually need it, that's the app working.
For press, partnerships, App Store and developer-program correspondence, or anything else, write to me. I read everything that comes in.