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Inspiration
We were inspired by the Swap UVA event from last year, where students could exchange their clothing for another piece of clothing. Instead of clothes, we decided to have the exchange be about art! Art is often considered a luxury that many do not have funds to enjoy, so we wanted to make it more accessible! By exchanging art and supporting small local artists instead of buying new pieces, you're reducing waste by giving unwanted art to someone else rather than throwing it away.
What it does
Our program seeks to replicate a fair chance for everyone to access art. We heard some people felt upset that they were not able to find some clothing they liked despite exchanging their own in already. This web application let's UVA students upload their art like a gallery and other students can view and request to exchange their art for yours. Every student can choose whether or not they want to exchange, ultimately allowing them to feel in control of what happens to their item. We originally wanted it to match students up if they requested each other's art to make the exchange more efficient and clearer.
How we built it
We first created a Artwork.js class where each artwork would have parameters such as ownerId, creationDate, requests, status etc. Then we sorted them by categories, and then we worked up to implement a search engine that would enable our website to work and handle button and dropdown, and other user inputs.
Challenges we ran into
Learning how to use HTML and JS together for the website entry portal where the photos are scrolling in the background because the first exposure to back-end and front-end programming, so it was definitely challenging to get used to. Additionally, handling the filtering by categories and statuses overlapping was also another difficult roadblock we ran into, but through trial and error and many disappearing photos on the website, we managed to implement a working filter and search engine.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Building a website from scratch and debugging our website.
What we learned
This was our first hackathon and also experience using HTML and JavaScript together and we learned how to combine them together to build an interactive website. Problem solving with team, especially with the search dropdown options. We learned to divide responsibilities to everyone on the team, so no one felt left out of the process.
What's next for SwapMates - Art Swap Program
To continue building on the SwapMates Program, we want to fully implement the matching system for two users interested in each other's artworks and request system to actually handle requests through either accepting or rejecting. This idea could also branch out to not just art and clothing but also furniture, cars, and other lifestyle goods.
