Project Links
the spark
Introduction
- App name: SettleBuddy
- Mission statement: Reduce the stress and anxiety involved in moving to a new country.
The problem being solved
SettleBuddy aims to simplify the process and reduce the stress involved in milestone moments while going through the immigration process.
The app currently targets people that have just arrived in the UK and in the future it can include people that have been in the UK for a number of years.
We try to solve this problem by reducing information overload and gamifying the process with rewards and progress tracking.
Idea Explanation
The idea of SettleBuddy boils down to a web app for users to track what they have done, motivate users via gaming elements and guide users through obscure immigration procedures.
How SettleBuddy helps its users
- Organiz44ing the steps you need to take in one place
- Reduces stress and mental load
- Breaks down tasks by showing sub-tasks
- Gamified process where you earn badges and level up
- Provides a fun positive feedback system for often dull, mundane tasks
- Helps people understand how much progress they’ve made and how much is left to go
- All your relevant documents in one place
Example tasks
- Collect Biometric Residence Permit (BRP)
- Register with a GP (NHS)
- Apply for a National Insurance number
- Open a UK bank account
- Set up a UK mobile phone number
- Find accommodation
- Set up utilities (electricity, gas, water)
- Register for council tax
- Apply for a UK driving license (if needed)
under the hood
Tech Stack
The entire stack uses TypeScript.
Frontend:
- React
- Tailwind CSS
- shadcnUI
- Zustand - for global state management
Backend:
- Express - for the web api
- Postgres - for the database (not implemented yet)
We specifically decided to build a web app and prioritised mobile devices since we thought this would maximize the accessibility of SettleBuddy.
Our Hackathon Experiences
We had some mixed experiences with working with Typescript within a really short time limit. We tried to set up a database within the day and that didn't go well - it was painful dropping this feature but it needed to be done.
A lot of us had our expectations of the hackathon changed a lot during the event and dropping the database is one example of this. Another example is that we wanted to add support for people that are further on in the immigration process.
Despite being keenly aware of our time constraints, we still overestimated what we could get done.
since then
Next Steps
- Add a database for persisting user data
- Add more badges and ranks
- Add multiple users
- Add authentication
- Do user testing