Le Robot François started as a mobile-friendly flashcard chatbot built for language learners. While studying French, I created a vocabulary practice tool using ManyChat and Facebook Messenger. The goal was clear: enable consistent language repetition using a chatbot interface.

The chatbot gained unexpected attention from French-speaking users globally. I hadn’t optimized it for organic discovery, but it began receiving regular traffic from the Francophone diaspora. The initial tech stack was lightweight, fast, and user-friendly.

However, as the project scaled, two key problems emerged: rising operational costs and compliance changes from Meta. Managing policy shifts, integrations, and automation logic introduced constant overhead. Since my French instruction was generously provided to me at no cost, I personally committed to not directly monetizing this tool, which made the growing costs unattractive.

Eventually, I shelved the project.

Years later, OpenAI released custom GPTs. This reignited the idea. I now had the tools to relaunch the language learning assistant using modern AI infrastructure, prompt driven logic, and better cost control. So I transitioned everything into a custom GPT and published it in the GPT Store.

Why I Chose ChatGPT over ManyChat

Custom GPTs solved my previous limitations. They offered scalable logic, no-code development, and native language modeling. With ChatGPT, I could:

• Remove hardcoded flows and switch to natural language interaction
• Iterate faster using structured prompt engineering
• Build a reusable educational tool for French vocabulary practice

It aligned with modern product principles: frictionless UX, efficient dev cycles, and scalable architecture.

How I Rebuilt this French Vocabulary Trainer

My rebuild centered around a well-structured master prompt. This controlled tone, behavior, vocabulary structure, and learning flow. I added:

• Security rules to safeguard usage
• Attribution messaging that rotated between English and French with a link to TimothyNishimura.com
• A signature easter egg for traceability

Initially, I wanted CSV uploads to drive segmented vocab lists, but ChatGPT’s memory quirks led to occasional data loss. I dropped the external data layer in favor of embedded vocab clusters directly in the prompt.

Key Learnings from the Refactor

Complexity is fragile. Simple architectures scale better. I replaced webhook-driven automations with prompt logic. No third-party storage. No platform lock-in. Everything lives in the prompt. Results:

• Lower costs
• Easier maintenance
• Faster iteration

This was a textbook example of how to modernize a legacy no-code chatbot into a lightweight AI-first application.

Future Plans for this French Vocab Tool

Current roadmap experiments include:

• Skill-based difficulty progression
• Theme-aware vocab clusters (e.g. travel, food, business)
• Gamification elements like streaks and leaderboard stats

What excites me most is the ability to apply this model to other language learning use cases—or any niche where lightweight education tools can benefit from conversational UX.

I’ll be documenting best practices and sharing templates for others interested in building apps with ChatGPT. 

Read: My Boring AF Topic Cluster Tool Name

If you’ve ever tried to come up with content ideas and ended up doomscrolling instead, same. I’ve been there, staring at a blank doc, trying to plan blog posts, video scripts, or landing pages, and wondering what people actually want to read.

Using ChatGPT to do one thing well

So I built something to make it easier. I created a custom tool powered by ChatGPT to take the stress and guesswork out of content planning. You don’t need to juggle tabs, chase trends, or scroll through endless keyword lists.

Just type in a keyword or a question and it returns a clean, structured set of related content ideas grouped by topic. It’s designed to help you move fast and think less about structure so you can focus more on execution. The AI handles the connections so your creative brain can take over from there.

When I typed in “homes for sale in Austin” I got:

• Neighborhood-specific ideas like “South Congress homes” and “Zilker listings”
• Buyer-focused stuff like “first-time buyer tips” and “best time to buy in Austin”
• Market insights like “Austin housing trends” and “property tax breakdown”

The Final Verdict

Everything is grouped in a way that actually makes planning content easier. You’re not left with a flat list. You get ideas that are already connected.

I built this for marketers, car dealerships, bloggers, real estate pros, general corner cutters, overwhelmed freelancers, social media managers, and anyone else who needs to create content and doesn’t want to waste time.

It’s fast and easy to use, and it helps you get moving without all the second guessing. Whether you’re building a new strategy from scratch or just need ideas to fill in the gaps, this tool meets you where you are.

Want to try it out? Here’s the link to Topic Cluster Tool. FKA, “Keyword Tool.” The name is (still) mid, but it works.

Clockwise from Left: The Diplomats – Dipset Anthem; Juvenile – 400 Degreez; Megan Thee Stallion – Hot Girl

“Crack markets had three primary impacts on young black males: an increased probability of being murdered, an increased risk of incarceration, and a potential source of income,”

^{The White/Black Educational Gap, Stalled Progress, and the Long Term Consequences of the Emergence of Crack Cocaine Markets (link)}
William N. Evans, Craig Garthwaite & Timothy J. Moore

It all started with “Dipset Anthem”… If rec league sports adopted walk-on music, this Heatmakerz-produced stalwart by The Diplomats (Dipset) would be my definitive choice, soundtracking that triumphant stride onto the court.

Dipset’s cultural impact remains undeniable. They didn’t just shape hip-hop music; they redefined a fashion moment, notably taking the color pink – once synonymous with Reagan-era Wall Street prep and exclusive country club, and reappropriating it for the aspirational streetwear aesthetic of Uptown Harlem. It was a bold statement about status, identity, and flipping establishment symbols.

This piece details a conceptual album cover redesign for “Dipset Anthem,” envisioned as a personal design challenge. Unlike other works in this series, which perhaps explored singular themes without achieving the same depth of deliberate layering present here (though still valuable as references for future work), this “Dipset Anthem” concept received a more rigorous, multi-layered conceptualization.

The Design Process & Conceptual Layers:

The foundational layer draws inspiration from the Cold War era. While I only witnessed its latter stages, lacking the full real-time context, the visual language of that period offered potent source material. The Cold War’s backdrop: its competing ideologies, pervasive propaganda, and shadowed geopolitical plays, offers a resonant parallel to the underground economies and alternative power structures embodied by the hustler figure. Specifically, I referenced propaganda posters from Mao-era China and Soviet space program advertisements. These artifacts blend bold graphic design elements—solid strokes, halftone patterns—with a palpable sense of futuristic optimism and promised progress, inherent in state-sponsored propaganda.

Central to the composition is an image of Nicky Barnes, the infamous Harlem drug kingpin, flanked by two women. His inclusion is a direct nod to Harlem’s history and the complex glorification of the hustler archetype within hip-hop culture. Placing Barnes as the focal point serves to interrogate how nostalgia often simplifies complex historical figures, casting them as unambiguous heroes or villains while ignoring nuanced realities. He embodies both the “enemy of the people” narrative often pushed by authorities, and the potent economic forces operating beneath the surface of geopolitical maneuvering and official narratives.

As the cited research highlights (“The White/Black Educational Gap…”), the emergence of crack cocaine markets had devastating, multifaceted consequences for young Black men: increased mortality, mass incarceration, alongside the grim allure of illicit income complexities often obscured by simplified portrayals.

The design explores how intricate webs of international relations and economic interests (partly fueled by Cold War dynamics) contributed to the drug trade’s expansion, masking its deep connections to systemic inequalities and global power structures.

Contrasting the vintage elements, the design incorporates symbols of contemporary aspiration: luxury goods and status symbols. These act as the modern “bait” for hustlers, offering an illusion of success and respect. A bubblegum pink Lamborghini, a direct visual echo of Killa Cam (Cam’ron)’s iconic style, features prominently. This is paired with a dual reference to Virgil Abloh’s design philosophy: nodding directly to Off White; his time at Louis Vuitton, and to his roots with his Pyrex Vision brand (itself referencing drug culture and hustling) and his well-documented fascination with bootleg culture.

This reference feels pertinent given Abloh’s broader project of bridging streetwear authenticity with high-fashion luxury, often utilizing sampling and recontextualization in his own design methods, mirroring hip-hop’s own creative ethos.

I honor this legacy with an Off-White inspired take on the “Dipset Anthem” title treatment, incorporating elements like a Cyrillic “I” and iconic vertical quotation marks, tying the modern luxury symbols back to the Cold War aesthetic roots.

Ultimately, the goal from the outset was to bridge vintage and modern elements conceptually, mirroring the process of sampling in music production.

Here, the visual ‘samples’ included sampling the optimistic aesthetic of Soviet-era posters, sampling the complex iconography of Nicky Barnes, and sampling Virgil Abloh’s distinct design language. These elements were then ‘flipped’ or juxtaposed with Soviet hopefulness against the harsh realities of the crack era, historical narratives against contemporary luxury symbols like the pink Lambo which aimed to recontextualize these disparate sources into something new and layered with meaning, much like a producer cooking up in the lab.

In 2014, our default theme lets you create a responsive magazine website with a sleek, modern design. Feature your favorite homepage content in either a grid or a slider. Use the three widget areas to customize your website, and change your content’s layout with a full-width page template and a contributor page to show off your authors.

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Using a decade old default theme as an intentional aesthetic choice feels liberating. A straightforward setup reduces the overwhelm of endless customization, letting you jump straight into sharing your thoughts and ideas.

Also, very happy to be rid of a certain popular framework, which did little more than add bloat on top of a WYSIWYG CMS, that has a native block editor.

Over time, like a project car, I hope that this site will continue to evolve into something that I can put on a trailer and bring out for track days.