SwipeStream

Inspiration

The never-ending questioning of "But... What do I watch next?" after finishing a series is what we want to bring to an end.

What it does

SwipeStream is a web application on which users can identify their next stream (movie/series) in a fast and fun way. Based on your and your friends' previous picks, SwipeStream suggests you two different productions at a time. Hover over the page to look at short trailers and pick the one you liked the most. The other one is discarded and after 5 decision rounds, our recommendation engine provides you a satisfactory suggestion based on your likings and the offer of all available streaming providers. You want to return to a production you have seen before? No problem, the customizable watchlist shows you all previous watchings and shows your favorites. Click on your friends' profile pages to check out what they are currently recommendating and rating the best.

How we built it

We started out creating designs in Figma and then chose React as our frontend framework. Also we chose to create our own backend server, which provides a rest-api and is built with rust.

Challenges we ran into

A lot. We took a lot of time in the ideation phase to make sure we are developing a concept the user would indeed like to use in the end and ecpecially we wanted to make sure to identify the problem very correctly in order to provide a proper solution. However, this also shortened the time for actual implementation. The data we got provided was not consistent and some data was missing, so we had to adapt our solution.

In the end the backend integration was not too easy and caused some last minute errors.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A fun and user-friendly design.
Having, probably, solved a real world problem, almost everybody with a streaming subscription knows.
That we, at all times, stayed motivated and working and working.

What we learned

Ideation takes a lot of time and can be very important
Don't forget to stand up and get some fresh air in between.
Diving deep into unknown challenges really gives a great opportunity to gain other perspectives on problen solving.