10 Songs
10Songs.org is a curated collection of mixtapes organized around themes, seasons, and emotional states. Each mixtape contains roughly ten songs, though the number varies by intuition rather than rigid structure. The project rejects algorithmic curation in favor of deliberate, handcrafted selections.
Beyond its content, 10 Songs serves as an ongoing playground for UI experimentation. The site explores progressive web app patterns, touch-based interactions, and keyboard-driven navigation — treating interface design as seriously as the curation itself. Each mixtape cover is designed from scratch as a continuing design practice.
The site is built as a static website using Hugo and driven entirely by markdown files, making it highly responsive and easy to maintain. Behind the scenes, I've developed a custom shell script-based CMS that streamlines the entire workflow — from creating new playlist pages to syncing playlists between Apple Music and Spotify, and handling general site maintenance tasks.
The site is primarily built for an audience of one — this is how I navigate my own music collection across my devices. While it appears as a simple site to most visitors, it includes several power user features that aren't immediately obvious:
Pull-to-search: Touch screen users can pull down the top bar to reveal a dedicated search interface. The pull gesture has a fun liquid effect — try moving your finger left and right as you pull down to see it.
Keyboard shortcuts: Desktop users can press Cmd+? (or Ctrl+? on Windows) to display a complete list of available keyboard commands for navigation.
Save to home screen: On mobile devices, the site can be added to the home screen where it behaves like a native application with a custom icon.
Push notifications: When installed to the home screen, the app can send notifications for new playlists — a hidden feature for those who want to stay updated.
At its core, the project is a meditation on musical discovery and a love letter to the act of listening. Each mixtape functions as a small, self-contained artifact — part journaling practice, part curatorial exercise. Some are built around specific people or moments. Others capture seasonal moods or serve as containers for grief. The project continues to grow, adding new collections as they take shape.
The work sits somewhere between personal archive and shared collection — small acts of curation preserved and shared outside the endless scroll of algorithmic feeds.
