Illuminate the Past
Create a meaningful, digital candle lighting ritual so users could easily honor the memory of one victim of the Holocaust, for years to come.
Illuminate Foundation is a registered non profit organization. It was founded to increase the awareness, education and commemoration of the Holocaust for future generations.
When we were first asked to develop the app the major feature was to enable users to light the digital candle and to assign them so that returning users can light them up again. Process of lighting the candle had to be appealing and engaging.
The Challenge
When we were asked for assistance the second time we needed to implement the map functionality. Client wanted to show how many users have engaged throughout all those years and that initiative have a world wide reach.
The app didn't encourage users to specify detailed position so a lot of candles were placed with the same coordinates. We wanted to spread those candles evenly on the map so they won't be placed on top of each other.
Our Solution
Duration: 1.5 Years
Service: Light the digital candle to commemorate holocaust victim
Technologies: React, Ruby on Rails, TypeScript, Next.js
Technical Implementation
Cookie-Based Persistence
Using cookies we save candle data assigned to user whether signed in or not, ensuring users can return to their commemorative candles.
Email Reminders
To ensure user engagement user receives email before the event reminding them to light their candle.
Framework Migration
We needed to refactor the codebase and move it to the new framework which is Next.js in order to facilitate its modern features.
TypeScript Integration
To make development more secure we implemented TypeScript which helps us catch bugs before it might be introduced on production.
Interactive Map Feature
One of the main features of the app is to locate lighted digital candles on the map based on the location specified by the user. However the app didn't encourage them to specify detailed position so a lot of candles were placed with the same coordinates.
We wanted to spread those candles evenly on the map so they won't be placed on top of each other, ensuring each commemoration is visible and meaningful.