SparksOfJoy | Devpost

Anonymous compliment recieved with random photo generated
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Type in a compliment or have one generated for you
Another compliment example
One more example :)

Inspiration

The inspiration for this app came from common feelings that most people on social media experience nowadays. They are the following: jealousy, sadness, anger, envy, and so on. High Levels of these emotions can make us feel negative without even stepping outside. So, this app came to be when we wanted to solve this inconvenience that not only members of our team can relate to, but everyone can.

What it does

SparksOfJoy is an SMS messaging app that uses a phone number to either send a personalized compliment or a generated compliment to someone or yourself anonymously.

How we built it

Our project centered around the use of the Twilio API. We built the app using react-native for easy mobile development. For the backend, we used node.js and express.js to communicate with the Twilio API. Lastly, the backend was hosted with Google Cloud's App Engine.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into a few issues over the weekend. The main issue was setting our original scope to be too large. Halfway through the hackathon, we realized we wouldn't have the time to implement everything we wanted.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of multiple things. Firstly, the fact we were able to learn some new technologies rather quickly was a fun experience. Secondly, the teamwork shown by all our members. And lastly, the fact we took an opportunity to make the world a kinder place. :)

What we learned

This weekend we learned valuable information's from the workshops especially the one from Twilio. We also learned more about the Google Cloud Platform. This experience has solidified more of our knowledge on React Native because some of our teammates have had previous experience with the language. Some teammates experienced their first hackathon and others experience their second hackathon, hence this experience has enlightened us more about hackathons and has started a desire to keep doing projects like this.

What's next for SparksOfJoy

For the future of SparksOfJoy, we would add additional features such as the ability to import contacts directly from the phone of the user and to send customizable pictures to the receiver of these sweet messages.

Built With

Submitted to

ConUHacks VI
- Winner [MLH] Most Creative Use of Twilio - Twilio Swag Box GameGo Console

Created by

I mainly worked on the backend and implementing it with the frontend. I learned a lot about express.js and the Twilio API.

Bryce Nichol
I worked on the front end and I was using React Native for only the second time. I learned a lot more about the intricacies of it.

Kenny Dao
I worked on the frontend, specifically the Friend Dashboard using React-Native which solidified my knowledge with this technology since it was my second time using it :D

Lyuba Georgieva
I came up with the concept and tried my best to contribute along the way. Learned a whole lot about react-native and feel at ease with it now.

Nicholas Vidot