Paper Clip

Connectable, like Paper Clips.

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Business Viability

This app is a great business idea as the incentives embedded into it allow it to be frequently used. A major business spark this project has is the idea of having a tangible item come with the app. This integration of software and hardware, will make it a viable business idea as the prospect of retailing the "Paper Clips" as seen in the demo along with the uses of the app can spark into a great venture.

Inspiration

Over the past two years, communication has been an aspect missing from many of our lives. The pandemic has made it increasingly difficult to make new friends, and create special connections with others. Paper Clip was designed especially for this reason- with the hope that it would help connect people and create long lasting friendships. The idea of this app emerged from the popular game Pokemon Go in terms of the gamified approach, but serves a different purpose.

What it does

Paper Clip is a User Friendly mobile application which gives users a gamified experience making friends. Depending on the users location, they can hunt for “Paper Clips”, which are essentially a form of currency on the app. Every user who uses the app will get to drop Paper Clips in special areas they visited. For example, if a user visits Paris, they would be able to drop a paper clip in that area. Another user who uses the app could visit Paris, and find the Paper Clip dropped by the user, as long as they are within a 1km radius of where the paper clip was dropped. Every user who downloads the app will also receive their very own tangible “Paper Clip”, which acts as a QR code in order to recognize the location a dropped paper clip. When finding the paper clip, users will gain “Paper Points”, which they can then redeem for gift cards and other cool merchandise in the store. In addition, when a user finds a paper clip, they will be able to connect with the person who dropped it via a chat system in the app, therefore receiving an opportunity to make friends and who knows? Maybe everlasting bonds as well.

How we built it

Paper Clip was build with a variety of frameworks and languages. Paper Clip was primarily built for the IOS platform with Swift, and prototyping was done with Figma. The Integration of Hootsuite's API was an important aspect of this app as it allows users to seamlessly connect to Facebook and connect automatically to future friends. This framework also allowed for better interaction with the user's social media ecosystem. Google Cloud was also used for authentication purposes as well as machine learning within the app. Google Cloud was specifically used for machine learning and recognition of places where Paper Clips were dropped. This was accomplished with the google places API. The majority of the app is hosted on Firebase, and google vision was also used for scanning the paper clips.

Challenges we ran into

A major challenge I ran into was interconnecting hardware with software. Bringing in the unique paper clip registration feature proved to be a daunting task. In addition, the integration of the Hootsuite API with Firebase was something I had many errors with initially, as the social media authentication system needed to be accommodated based on location.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I am proud of creating a functioning application which can be used to create connections and make friends. I am also proud of the creativity and potential business venture this idea holds as it revolutionizes friend making in a unique way.

What we learned

Throughout making this project, I learned a lot about various design aspects, such as typography and color theory. In addition, I understood the usages of API’s better and felt I got better at seamlessly integrating them into my projects.

What's next for Paper Clip

With Paper Clip, I would like to have an even more immersive map system where users can view Paper Clips near them in a 3-D format. I would also like to simplify and compress the tangible Paper Clips to make them more appealing when in the market.

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