Auster Network

Auster Network is a full-scale creative platform I designed and built end-to-end — a single product that brings together everything a creative community needs: publishing, networking, commerce, funding, and work opportunities.

Rather than stitching together five separate tools, Auster gives its members one unified experience where they can read editorial content, build a professional presence, find paid work, connect with other creatives and brands, and shop — all under one roof.

Members get a personalized dashboard and a real-time community feed where they can share posts with images, tag topics, repost, like, and comment. The feed includes built-in content moderation and link-safety checks to keep the space healthy, plus live notifications so members never miss activity on their work.

Every creator gets a beautiful public profile with portfolio projects, a curated article section, and embedded widgets pulling from their Spotify, Pinterest, and Are.na accounts. A guided onboarding flow helps new members build a compelling profile from day one, complete with image cropping, custom rates, and availability settings.

A complete job board built for the creative industry: brands and studios post gigs, projects, and roles; creators apply through dynamic, customizable application forms (including video introductions). Posters get a full management dashboard to review applicants, and conversations around applications flow directly into the platform's messaging system.

Real-time one-to-one messaging with typing indicators, unread counts, and role-aware connection rules — brands can reach out to talent directly, while creator-to-creator messaging is unlocked through mutual connections, keeping outreach intentional and spam-free.

A CMS-driven magazine with flexible article layouts — rich text, embeds, image sections, and media blocks that editors can compose freely. Articles are statically generated for speed and SEO, with instant cache updates whenever editors publish. Creators can also author and publish their own articles with a custom Notion-style rich text editor I built, featuring slash commands, drag-and-drop blocks, and inline formatting.

A fully custom Shopify-powered storefront with a twist: every collection can have its own personality — custom cursors, banner imagery, color themes, and even its own background music playlist. Cart, checkout, product recommendations, and unified search across products, articles, and funds are all built in, with optimistic UI for a fast, app-like shopping experience.

Dedicated pages for grant programs and creative funds, giving the community a clear path to financial support alongside paid work.

Invite-gated beta access, passwordless email OTP login, row-level data security, rate limiting, and content moderation throughout — built to protect a real community from day one.

I built the entire product solo — architecture, database design, UI implementation, third-party integrations (Shopify, Strapi CMS, Supabase, Spotify, Pinterest, Are.na, email/newsletter services), real-time systems, and performance optimization. The result is a fast, polished, production-grade platform with static generation, smart caching, dark mode, smooth scroll and motion design, and a fully responsive interface.

Stack highlights: Next.js 16 · React 19 · TypeScript · Tailwind CSS · Supabase (auth, database, realtime) · Shopify Storefront & Admin APIs · Strapi CMS