This might sound stupid, when building the project, focus it on something interesting to me or should I aim to make it more accessible to show off skills if that makes sense?
For a first attempt it may help to keep the focus on what you find interesting. I just built a very simple web app that connects to strava api and emails me if "i'm slacking" based on my weekly time / mileage. The UI kinda sucks right now, but it works completely off a raspberry pi and I can access it from the web. If I'm looking to hire and you have a hosted, working example to point to then I would think you're fairly capable as a developer. You can add on to it and make it nicer to show off other skills.
This might sound stupid, when building the project, focus it on something interesting to me or should I aim to make it more accessible to show off skills if that makes sense?