Wanderchat

Inspiration

Wanderchat was born from a longing for the "Golden Age" of location-based social gaming—specifically the summer of 2016. We wanted to recapture that magic of getting people outdoors and moving, but without the corporate, polished feel of modern fitness trackers. We envisioned a world where fitness isn't a chore, but a neon-drenched, sketchbook-style adventure shared with the local community.

What it does

Wanderchat is a location-based social fitness app that gamifies movement. Users explore their real-world surroundings to unlock "throwback items" and social checkpoints. It blends physical exercise with a unique "throwback" aesthetic, allowing users to interact with their environment and other "Wanderers" through proximity-based challenges and community-driven exploration.

How we built it

The core experience was designed with a focus on high-energy UX and tactile interactions. We utilized Figma and Framer to create a custom "neon sketchbook" UI, prioritizing gritty, hand-drawn elements over standard flat design.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest hurdles was balancing the "low-fi" aesthetic with "high-fi" performance. Ensuring that the location-based triggers felt snappy while maintaining the hand-drawn, scribbled animations required significant optimization of our CSS transitions. Additionally, architecting the social "proximity" logic in Java required careful attention to how we stored and accessed coordinate-based data.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of the visual identity we established. Moving away from the typical "minimalist" fitness app look to something that feels like a piece of street art was a risk that paid off. We also successfully integrated a functional navigation system that handles real-time user movement without breaking the immersion of the sketchbook theme.

What we learned

This project taught us the importance of Product Design as a storytelling tool. We learned how to use transitions and micro-interactions to evoke nostalgia.

What's next for Wanderchat

The journey is just beginning. Our next steps include:

• Refining the Macro-Tracking integration so users can see how their "Wanders" contribute to their fitness and nutrition goals.
• Expanding the social features to allow for "Flash Mob" fitness events triggered by local community milestones.

Built With

• figma
• framer