MINDConnect

Grid View
Calendar View
Admin Dashboard - Overview
Admin Dashboard - Managing Activities

Inspiration

When we read MINDS’ problem statement about reducing friction in activity sign-ups, it immediately felt like a very real and frustrating issue. We imagined individuals with intellectual disabilities who want to browse and choose activities on their own, but are limited to phone calls or paper forms. We also thought about caregivers who may need to sign up their family members for multiple activities, but have to repeat the same process over and over again. On the staff side, MINDS officers still need to manually collate information from calls, emails and physical forms, which is both time-consuming and prone to errors.

These traditional methods create unnecessary barriers. Phone registration depends on staff availability, paper forms can be misplaced, and there is no easy way to see what activities are available or how many slots are left. We wanted to build something simple and accessible that could bring everything into one place and make the process smoother for everyone involved.

What it does

MINDConnect is a web platform that transforms activity registration for MINDS Singapore:

For Individuals & Caregivers:

Browse activities in grid or visual calendar layout
Search instantly by name, category or description
Register in under 2 minutes with a simple form
Choose "Individual" or "Caregiver" registration type
Track real-time availability with progress bars

For MINDS Staff:

Manage all activities from one dashboard (create, edit, delete)
View all registrations in a centralised table
Track real-time statistics (activities, registrations, capacity)
Print registration lists for reporting
Changes reflect instantly across all users

How we built it

We built MINDConnect using:

React for the user interface and managing different views (user/admin)
Firebase Firestore for real-time database that syncs data automatically
TailwindCSS for clean, accessible styling
Vite for fast development
Vercel for deployment

Challenges we ran into

Real-time Updates: Initially, when someone registered for an activity, other users did not see the updated capacity immediately. We resolved this by re-fetching data after each registration to ensure everyone sees the latest information.

Calendar Layout:Building the monthly calendar was more challenging than expected. We had to calculate the starting weekday for each month and account for different month lengths, which made date handling in JavaScript tricky.

Mobile Responsiveness: The activity cards looked fine on desktop but felt cramped on smaller screens. We adjusted layouts and breakpoints to make the interface usable on mobile devices.

Dual Registration Modes: Supporting both individual and caregiver registration required careful state management so the form would display only the relevant fields at the right time.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a fully working platform within 24 hours
Designed an interface that prioritises accessibility and clarity
Successfully implemented both user and admin views in one application
Deployed a live, functional website at https://mindconnect-livid.vercel.app

What we learned

Understanding Our Users: Designing for individuals with intellectual disabilities meant constantly asking whether something was clear, simple, and intuitive. We avoided unnecessary complexity and focused on ease of use.

Identifying Real Pain Points: To actually help MINDS staff, we needed to understand how registrations are currently handled. Realising how fragmented their workflow was helped us design a dashboard that reduces manual work and consolidation.

Design Simplicity: Accessibility is not just about meeting standards. Simple choices like clear icons, visual capacity indicators, and large buttons can make a big difference in usability.

Time-Constrained Development: The 24-hour constraint forced us to focus on features that directly addressed the problem. This helped us prioritise functionality over unnecessary additions.