Hey dev.to! 👋 I’m Jonas, a UX Designer and Indie Dev from Switzerland. Over the years, I’ve launched a handful of digital products, but my latest one started from a completely different place:
I was tired of low-quality meme generators.
Most of them feel like from the 2000s: old-school, filled with ads and watermarks on the memes. And the provided templates? Usually pixelated, compressed, or weirdly cropped screenshots from screenshots from screenshots.
So I started to build a high-quality library of high-quality meme templates—first just for myself. Then for everyone to use.
And I build an editor around it that should just do, what you need. Not more. Not less. 👉 Meme Studio
Why build a meme generator in 2025?
Because memes aren’t just jokes anymore: they’re a creative format, a storytelling device, and a way to connect with your audience. Especially for content creators, memes can foster engagement no other post form can match.
I’ve been building a decent following on LinkedIn (around 8,000 people) in the UX space. What started with occasional posts turned into a regular stream of UX-related memes, and I noticed something:
🎯 Memes work when they’re well-designed and relevant to your audience.
But there was no tool out there that felt… good. I always used Figma, which is overkill. I wanted a small tool I could use on my Phone to quickly 'write down' an idea or directly create the meme, without first having to look out for a decent quality template on Google image search.
The core: High-quality meme templates
The main problem with meme generators? Garbage input = garbage output. So I focused on the foundation: the templates.
I collected and manually restored over 100 of the most iconic memes: carefully upscaling, cleaning, and cropping them so creators can start with a solid canvas.
No blurry artifacts, no weird proportions. Just clean, high-res meme templates.
And yes, I’ll keep adding more.
The tech behind Meme Studio 🛠️
I’m a fan of keeping things simple and fast. Here’s what powers Meme Studio under the hood:
- Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript (no React) + Parcel.
- CSS: PostCSS with utility-first styling and full purge + inline optimization.
- Meme rendering: Puppeteer with headless Chromium to generate final JPGs on the server.
- Backend: Node.js, Firebase
- Storage: Firebase Storage
- Auth: Firebase Auth using passwordless login via code.
- Hosting: Firebase Hosting with CDN, cache headers, and compressed assets.
It’s not a huge app—but every part is optimized to be as snappy and clean as possible.
SEO and the slow game
I’ve spent many weeks working on on-page SEO. That means:
- Every meme template has its own page, structured with full metadata
- There is an article about the back story of each meme format
- Rich schema to the fullest (SoftwareApplication, WebSite, Images)
- Sitemap and clean canonical URLs
- Only pages with searched keyword focus in the sitemap
Unfortunately, the site is not ranking high—yet. But I’m betting on the long game. With around 200 pages and 150+ solid templates, I hope Google starts to notice.
The Product Hunt launch (aka: humbling moments)
A month ago, I launched Meme Studio on Product Hunt. It didn’t blow up—I ended the day with 39 upvotes.
But here’s the good part: I got 7 five-star reviews from real users. That’s something.
I still believe this tool can grow organically—especially with creators who care about quality. It’s already being used by people creating content for newsletters, social posts, and some just to post jokes on internal Slack channels.
What’s next?
I'm currently working on a "brainstorm mode" – a guided way for creators to generate memes based on their target audience and message. Think of it like a meme narrative builder.
The goal? Help people go from “I want to post something” to “Wow, this meme is perfect for my brand”.
I don't think LLMs are ready to create the memes themselves. I've seen some attempts but was not impressed by the results. But AI can be a huge enabler in guiding a creative process.
If you're a content creator, give Meme Studio a try.
And if you’re curious how memes and UX intersect, come say hi on LinkedIn.
Thanks for reading—and let me know what you think ✌️
Top comments (0)