Hi, I'm Kolja Sam. I am a web developer based in Berlin, Germany.
I specialize in building:
- software to learn skills
- task-specific interfaces for professionals
- pragmatic automation tools for mid-size businesses
Selected Work
Arabic Numbers Practice
vue.js
tailwind
javascript
- Often, language learners try to "drill" repetitive topics, such as verb conjugations or numbers.
- This is boring, and not very effective.
- To explore how to do it better, I've built a simple interface to practice the numbers from 1-100 in Egyptian Arabic.
- You can play the free online game here.
Obsidian: The Queue
typescript
obsidian api
dom
- Obsidian is an excellent note-taking tool.
- However, there is a risk of creating notes that you simply never look at again.
- To fix this, I'm building an Obsidian plugin that displays random notes as habits, learning items, iterative reading content, and more.
- You can download The Queue from the community plugins, or see the repository.
Al-Kutshina
vue.js
typescript
tailwind
daisyui
python
bash
- Language learning is useful but very hard.
- Existing apps often use outdated teaching methods and rather dry gamification.
- To improve this state of affairs, I'm building a language-learning game where you solve image puzzles by dragging cards on a grid.
- Play the free game
Design & Infographics
Godot: The many ways of creating game objects
An infographic explaining the functionality of instantiate(), new(), Add Child Node etc. in the Godot game engine.
- HQ Image
- HQ PDF
- Desktop Version (1920x1080) (small text is hard to read)
Warming Stripes — Bavaria, Germany
I made a version of the Warming Stripes graphic with climate data for Bavaria, Germany.
All Projects
Al-Kutshina
- Language learning is useful but very hard.
- Existing apps often use outdated teaching methods and rather dry gamification.
- To improve this state of affairs, I'm building a language-learning game where you solve image puzzles by dragging cards on a grid.
- Play the free game
Arabic Corpus Explorer
- An experiment in data-driven learning.
- Learners practice Arabic by translating sentence by sentence from a natural language corpus.
- The prototype is available here.
Egyptian Arabic Phrases Practice
- A free online tool to practice Arabic survival phrases — on a timer.
- Play here.
Vending Machine Logistics App
- A vending machine company commissioned an app enabling their employees to track ware movements.
- I implemented a fullstack web application usable as a mobile app.
- It allows user management, login and authentication, digital signatures and complex management of wares and location.
- The application was custom-made for the client. If you're interested in something like this, please contact me via email.
Chaoskasten
- My attempt to implement a digital version of Luhmann's Zettelkasten.
- The project was shuttered long ago — rather, it grew into Kaado, then into Obsidian: The Queue.
- Lessons Learned From Building My Own Note Taking System
Colorsforwebsites
- A web-app where you can test a color schemes on multiple website mockups
- inspired by Building Your Color Palette
- Check out the prototype here
Cut Up And Practice
- A python desktop application to practice sheet music according to the principles of deliberate practice.
- The software is available in the repository here.
Inspirationbot
- A website recommending random reference pictures for art practice.
- Visit it here.
World Map Practice
A spaced repetition web game about placing countries on the map.
Obsidian: The Queue
- Obsidian is an excellent note-taking tool.
- However, there is a risk of creating notes that you simply never look at again.
- To fix this, I'm building an Obsidian plugin that displays random notes as habits, learning items, iterative reading content, and more.
- You can download The Queue from the community plugins, or see the repository.
Random Stretch Recommender
Employee Work Time Tracker
- German labor law requires (almost) any business to track their employee's work time (§17 MiLoG).
- Small businesses need a pragmatic, simple solution to be compliant.
- To this end, I've built a responsive web application allowing employees to track work time, vacations and breaks with no fuss and little cost.
- If you're interested in this product, please email me.