Yasmine's Email

Step 1: Open the project

Yasmine sent a follow-up email. Open materials/first-contact.md and read it through.

She has been watching how people use the site you built. The static portfolio works, but she wants more from it. Pay attention to what she's asking for and how she describes it. This email is the raw material for everything you'll build in this project.

Step 2: What she's asking for

Yasmine wants three things.

Product detail views. "Click on it and see it up close -- the stitching, the clasp, different angles." Right now, each item shows one photo. She wants visitors to click a product and explore it. This is a clear feature request with visual specifics. She knows exactly what she wants someone to see.

Category filtering. "I want people to be able to look at just one category." Bags, wallets, belts, custom pieces. Instead of scrolling through everything, a visitor interested in wallets should be able to see just wallets. This is a filter. The request is straightforward.

Custom work section. "Nothing complicated, just clear information." She keeps getting emails through the contact form asking about custom work. She wants a section that explains what's possible, how long it takes, and what materials she uses. Notice the contrast: the detail view request was specific and visual. This one is vague on content but clear on tone.

That gap between specific and vague matters. Yasmine knows what the detail view should feel like because she's imagined someone examining a bag. She doesn't know what the custom work section should contain because she hasn't had to describe her process in writing before. When you turn this email into a buildable plan, the specific parts translate easily. The vague parts are where you'll need to make decisions.

Step 3: What's missing

Three features, but not enough detail to start building. Read the email again and think about what you'd need to ask before writing code.

Detail views: How many detail photos per product? She mentions stitching, clasps, and angles, but is that two photos or five? Do all products get the same number of detail shots, or do some pieces have more to show? What information appears alongside the photos -- just the name, or also the leather type, price range, dimensions?

Category filtering: What are the exact categories? She says "bags, wallets, belts, custom pieces," but is that the complete list? Are there subcategories? When the page first loads, does it show everything or default to a specific category?

Custom work: This is where the gaps are widest. What types of custom work does she do? What's the typical turnaround time? Does she work with any leather, or specific types? Does she want to show price ranges? How does someone start the custom process -- email, a form, a phone call?

You don't need to answer all of these right now. The point is noticing the distance between a client's description and what a developer needs. That distance is where requirements gathering lives. In the next unit, you'll translate this email into a formal requirements document, and these gaps are what the translation has to address.