CAR RALLY
Car Rally transforms a city-wide workplace tradition into an interactive experience through real-time challenges, team dashboards, and live leaderboards. I led the UI/UX and front-end development of the mobile experience, focusing on flow, hierarchy, and data visibility for participants.
The Problem
Car Rally organizers tracked points manually. Teams recorded videos and submitted them through Facebook Messenger or Instagram DMs.
With hundreds of videos arriving at once, organizers verified each challenge by hand. Delays and lost submissions happened. Progress stayed unclear. Real-time updates stayed impossible.
Talking to previous Car Rally organizers
Past organizers managed submissions and points through manual labor.
Frustration #1
Points lived across chats and spreadsheets, accuracy slipped.
Frustration #2
Verifying dozens of videos at once took too long and caused errors.
Frustration #3
Teams could not see scores live, confusion kept repeating.
Frustration #4
Manual coordination limited growth and scale each year.
Brainstorming
We ran an ideation session to reimagine the experience.
We focused on verification, score management, and real-time visibility.
We designed dedicated modules for Challenges, Teams, Leaderboard, and Map.
The goal stayed simple, reduce organizer workload and keep the energy.
Designing
I prototyped the dashboard as the central hub for teams and organizers. I prioritized scores, live challenges, and updates so the system felt immediate and readable.
On the day of Car Rally
The backend didn’t deploy. The app could not connect to the server. Leaderboards and verification failed.
Pivot and move on
Teams went back to manual submissions through Instagram and Messenger. Organizers tracked points in spreadsheets and screenshots.
It still ran.
After Car Rally ended
We fixed the backend the next week. Submissions synced, leaderboards updated, and the features worked as intended.
Post event impact
A co-worker asked us to transition the platform to “Senior Scav.” The product now targets a new audience and keeps the same core loop.
The rollout targets 3 schools and 250+ students.
After 3 months, my handoff included:
A prototyped system designed and mapped on Figma.
Promotional videos and social assets for the community.
A functional prototype that captured the essence of Car Rally.
What I learned
Learning front end development with no background knowledge is tough.
Before this project, my design workflow lived in Figma. Car Rally forced me to learn React Native, Expo, and TypeScript while translating intent into working interactions.
It started messy. Broken layouts and errors. Each fix turned into a lesson. Building knowledge made my design decisions sharper.
Learning through failure always creates growth.
The backend failed on launch. The app went offline. The concept still resonated. Sharing demos sparked interest and new paths.
The project moved toward Senior Scav. Progress does not always look like a perfect launch. Sometimes the idea lands first.