Phantom / Lead Developer
Ghosts of Xmas Cards
A retro AI Christmas card generator, taken from a 24-hour prototype to 2.4 million visits in five days.
My contribution
I was lead developer and built the first prototype during a 24-hour hackathon I organised. We developed it with the team at Phantom and launched five days before Christmas.
The experience
Ghosts of Christmas Cards turned selfies into deliberately kitsch festive portraits. Visitors chose an era and received a personalised card, drawing on the look of 80s studio photography and 90s department-store portraits, complete with Christmas jumpers and soft-focus lighting.
Made for another go
A short upload-and-generate journey made it easy to try different looks and share the results. The appeal came from combining a recognisable face with the awkward charm of an old family Christmas photograph.
The response
The experience attracted 2.4 million visits from more than 500,000 users in five days, peaking at 1.35 million views on Christmas Day. It reached BBC Radio and was shared by E.L. James, Greg James, Goldie and Marcus Butler.
Technical detail & tools
- React
- Next.js
- JavaScript
- React Three Fiber
- Node.js
- Replicate
- TypeScript
Read the full case study at Phantom ↗
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