Book Cupid
Book Cupid
Full Stack Development
Full Stack Development
Book Cupid was my capstone project for my 2024 Software Development program. It is an ongoing passion project of mine.
With the rise of social media and the popularity of hashtags like #BookTok, reading has become a beloved pastime for many. Yet, certain books, stories, and authors often dominate the conversation—frequently overshadowing voices from marginalized communities.
Book Cupid is an app designed to bridge that gap by recommending books that spotlight authors and narratives from BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Using a familiar “swipe” interface inspired by popular dating apps like Hinge and Tinder, the platform helps readers discover diverse stories in an engaging and intuitive way.
This project was created through 4 major stages:
Design
Conceptualized the project through the lens of a "dating app" and the target audience being Gen-Z and Millennial women.
Created a colour palette with deep reds and bright pinks to invoke passion, energy, and love.
Utilized Adobe Illustrator and Procreate to create the branding and custom illustrations.
Database
Manually created a database of over 50+ books from BIPOC and 2SLGBQIA+ communities with MySQL
The decision to create my own database was based on there being no readily available database of books that I could easily filter through based on genre and preference. It also allowed me to gain experiencing creating and using a database, which was not extensively covered during my program.
Code
Utilized key technologies to create the website such as React.js, Express, and Node, and GitHub (for version control)
Deployment
Front-End code deployed through Vercel
Back-End code deployed through Railway
Book Cupid was my capstone project for my 2024 Software Development program. It is an ongoing passion project of mine.
With the rise of social media and the popularity of hashtags like #BookTok, reading has become a beloved pastime for many. Yet, certain books, stories, and authors often dominate the conversation—frequently overshadowing voices from marginalized communities.
Book Cupid is an app designed to bridge that gap by recommending books that spotlight authors and narratives from BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Using a familiar “swipe” interface inspired by popular dating apps like Hinge and Tinder, the platform helps readers discover diverse stories in an engaging and intuitive way.
This project was created through 4 major stages:
Design
Conceptualized the project through the lens of a "dating app" and the target audience being Gen-Z and Millennial women.
Created a colour palette with deep reds and bright pinks to invoke passion, energy, and love.
Utilized Adobe Illustrator and Procreate to create the branding and custom illustrations.
Database
Manually created a database of over 50+ books from BIPOC and 2SLGBQIA+ communities with MySQL
The decision to create my own database was based on there being no readily available database of books that I could easily filter through based on genre and preference. It also allowed me to gain experiencing creating and using a database, which was not extensively covered during my program.
Code
Utilized key technologies to create the website such as React.js, Express, and Node, and GitHub (for version control)
Deployment
Front-End code deployed through Vercel
Back-End code deployed through Railway
