The Grind | Devpost

Inspiration

We were inspired by the massive shift to remote work in recent times. Although there are many benefits, we recognized that there were also many issues, having experienced both in-person and remote work ourselves. We found that some of the common issues involved loss of motivation, loneliness, and overall burnout. To approach this, we were inspired by the warm aura of coffee shops, and how this can be relaxing as a work space or to chat. We wanted to emulate that environment through our app, providing users with a relaxing space to stay productive while also being encouraged to take breaks and learn more about other coworkers.

What it does

The app allows users to login with Google, and create a profile in the virtual coffee shop. They are able to set their tasks for the day as well as set goals from a yearly, monthly, and daily perspective to stay accountable. They are able to take breaks, and enter the coffee shop where they can engage in coffee chats with any other coworkers taking a break at the same time through a built in chat room.

How we built it

The interface is built entirely in React.js. The chat feature uses the Scaledrone API, the data models were created with SQLite, the initial prototype was built in Figma.

Challenges we ran into

Most of our challenges occurred during ideation and design. We are all technical people with little design knowledge, but wanted to ensure that the interface still provided the warm feel we were striving for. We went through many iterations of the design, thinking about various color schemes and layouts.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of the design we ended up with, as well as the core idea we brainstormed. We wanted to focus specifically on the main feature being a virtual coworking space, as this is not something we've commonly seen.

What we learned

We learned about iterating through the ideation process, brainstorming effective data models while keeping security in mind, working with sockets and scaledrone to create a chat feature, and more knowledge with React.js.

What's next for The Grind

We initially aimed to have notifications on the user's dashboard reminding them to take breaks and enter the coffee chat room. We also considered adding a "buy coffee" feature in the coffee shop, where users can buy a virtual coffee where proceeds go to a charity, and they are able to "bump in" to other coworkers buying coffee.