Blend by Nongki

Introducing a modern experience to virtually mingle with friends, Blend recreates the casual get-together vibe using aesthetic scenes and chill music. Virtual Coffee, Real Company; wherever, whenever.

Comment

Inspiration

Most of 2020 may have been spent behind closed doors, but it opened up our minds toward the opportunity to create something within the virtual realms of our society. From the growing list of video conference apps, however, we’ve noticed that meetings on these platforms still hold a sense of detachment. They are very formal, often agenda-driven, and a breeder of awkward silences you’d seldom come across if you were to hang out in a cafe or picnic. That’s why we created Blend; a social connectivity website aimed to bring back the casual hangouts missing since lockdown. Back in our home country, hanging out (or nongkrong in Indonesian slang) is one of our favorite pastimes, and we believe inspiration or the most brilliant ideas often come from a hangout without an agenda.

What it does

Blend is a virtual hangout space for users to enjoy casual talks with friends and family as we’ve noticed pre-existing video calls have always been mostly scheduled or used for working at home and formal meetings. Blend is supported with a no-password log in and provides virtual communication with backgrounds that suit your preferred hangout environment and time, with background music slider that aims to create the laid-back ambiance. Virtually connect without worrying about time-limits. Blend focuses more on the idea of having casual conversations and being a suitable substitute for regular meetups at coffee shops, parks, and group hangouts before COVID-19. And plus, its minimalist design can always be a little spark on your social media pages!

How we built it

Blend is built using React.js for Frontend, and Node.js for Backend. It is mostly built-in Javascript and JSX (an integration of Javascript, CSS, and HTML), with a splash of Typescript. We utilized NPM as our package manager and implemented open-source APIs, such as Socket.io, Material-UI, and Cotter. All the artworks are drawn in Procreate.

Challenges we ran into

With our members dispersed in four parts of the world, three different time zones, and four different wifi speeds, scheduling regular meetings for discussions was quite a challenge. Balancing our school workload and other extracurricular activities with this hackathon’s rigorous nature was also a barrier we learned to overcome. We initially had various ideas to incorporate into our project, but due to the time constraint, we had to postpone some of our plans to prioritize quality over quantity. In addition, three of our members are first-time hackers, so familiarizing themselves with the flow of such a large-scaled event also took some time. The inability to physically be together made us struggle with sharing content such as videos, songs, and designs as we had to email large files to one another and keep things organized.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

All of our members pursue majors that could not be more different, but we managed to unite because of our diversity. With the knowledge of Computer Science, Business, Film/TV, and Psychology, we’re proud to be able to come together and envision this complicated project. Each of us was able to showcase our own specialties and strengths; with our CS member creating the code for the project, our Film/TV member crafting the artwork and design, our Business member organizing time tables and working together with the Psychology member to create a product demo aimed to grab and keep the audiences’ attention. Our meetings are always extremely effective as we were able to build upon one another’s visions and ideas, as well as openly review one another at certain points. This is truly unity in diversity.

What we learned

Learning is an ongoing process. In a span of 4 days, we have all grown better as individuals by truly understanding that teamwork requires a lot of communication and brainstorming in order to create something that meets each other’s standards. During this journey, we realized that a hackathon does not necessarily cater to coders alone, as people from different fields such as design, business, and even psychology are much needed in this process of turning a vision into a real product. We also learned the importance of time-management and creating deadlines for ourselves, as later parts of the project depend on the earlier aspects. We think that in anything we do, communication is key, especially in a time where long-distance teamwork is becoming the norm.

What's next for Blend by Nongki

In four days, we’ve conveyed the core purpose of our website, which was to bring back casual get-togethers. But we’re certainly not done. We believe Blend has so much untapped potential and that we can collaborate with other notable brands for our various features. For instance, users would be able to connect the background slider to their Spotify or other music applications, enabling them to play the music of their choice. If the user craves a snack or a cup of coffee, we can create a “Get Coffee” button allowing them to order the same drink at the same time from their respective food-delivery services based on location. If they don’t have a laptop or computer nearby, creating a mobile version of the app would increase accessibility and encourage usage. Even linking Blend to Netflix or a movie site could be made into reality, as users can watch movies together, just like old times. These are just a few of the many ideas we have in store for Blend, as we’re a small team with big dreams.

Built With

+ 2 more
Share this project:

Updates