three

Demo Video

https://www.loom.com/share/1d3be48111c845b19b4b9d39e02e3fd0?sid=bd66488b-63d0-4eab-872f-9349ea9abb13

Framing the Problem

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Who does it affect?

Third spaces are rapidly disappearing due to rising costs, limited revenues, and underutilisation. Yet, people crave meaningful real-life connections more than ever, especially in an increasingly digital world.

Communities struggle to discover welcoming, inclusive spaces that genuinely match their specific needs, whether quiet spots for study, creative hubs, accessible venues, or family-friendly locations.

At the same time, venues face difficulties marketing events, efficiently managing bookings, and transparently showcasing their unique atmosphere and suitability.

The current approaches to discovering and booking these spaces often lack intuitive matching and reliable, detailed information about venue characteristics. Additionally, numerous suitable locations such as cafes during off-peak hours, co-working spaces after-hours, and community halls frequently sit empty, presenting missed opportunities for connection and collaboration.

There's a clear need for innovative solutions that streamline the discovery, booking, and management of these valuable spaces, build user confidence through greater transparency, unlock underutilised capacities, and actively foster meaningful community interactions.

Idea Explanation

What is your idea? How does it fix the problem?

Our idea is a map based app that shows third spaces in your location or a selected location, as well as information about the venue such as accessibility, opening hours, descriptive tags, capacity, how busy it is at different times of day, upcoming events etc. The map would open as default to showing venues currently open and available in your area, but users can change the date, time, and location, and toggle between map, list, and "chaos" view. They can also view events in the same way.

Our app would be available without logging in, but for users who want a more personalised experience, creating an account would give you the option to provide information like interests, regular locations, and accessibility or usage requirements such as wheelchair access or a need for a quiet space, allowing the app to filter locations that match these requirements. They can create preset filters for different moods, so when they're searching for somewhere new, they can search according to mood without having to specify the filters every time. They can also select whether or not they want their profile to be public or private.

Users who are signed up are encouraged to "check in" to venues. They will also be prompted to give specific feedback on a venue - rating different characteristics such as noise level, temperature, accessibility, and whether or not it matched their "mood". Checking in would also improve their future venue suggestions and other users' suggestions by using ML to improve the venue information and providing feedback and analytics to the venue. In their profile page, a new venue suggestion will be shown every day at a set time, with a countdown showing prior to the reveal, to encourage users to try different spaces. These suggestions will be specific to the user.

Users can also request to book a venue using a form to capture what the event is, date/time, number of attendees, and whether or not it is a recurring event.

On the venue side, this would be managed on a separate business app where they can register their venue and fill in details, as well as view feedback and analytics about their customers. They will be able to manage booking requests by accepting, declining, or messaging the user. When a venue signs up, they must upload a walkthrough video of their location - this will help users to better assess whether a venue is likely to meet their needs or match their vibe.

Monetisation Strategy

1. Freemium Model

Free for users and hosts to join, browse, and post
Premium features for power users and frequent organisers

2. Commission on Bookings

-5–10% fee on successful bookings collected from the organiser or host (configurable)

3. Pro Tools for Hosts

Monthly fee (£10–£25/month) for added features:

- Calendar sync, Analytics (what times are most booked?)

- “Boost my space” in search results

- Custom booking rules & cancellation options

4. Community Support Model

• Local councils, cultural foundations, or social impact funds can sponsor. Platform fees waived for non-profits or volunteers

  - Featured spaces (free venues for youth clubs)

  - Pilot programmes in high-need areas

Risks

• User Privacy & Security

  Risk of exposing user location or personal data. We can mitigate through mplementation of secure encryption, clear GDPR-compliant consent, and allow anonymous/private profiles.

• Inaccurate Venue Data

  Users rely heavily on accurate information. We need to have regular community check-ins and feedback loops to maintain accurate, updated venue data.

• Low Initial Adoption

  Difficulty achieving initial user or venue sign-ups. We need to have strategic partnerships with local businesses, councils, and early adopter incentives to rapidly populate the app.

Implementation

How do all the pieces fit together? Does your frontend make requests to your backend? Where does your database fit in?

Front end:

Two apps - one for users, one for businesses - to facilitate discovery of venues and events, as well as bookings.

• User App: Simple map-based interface showing:

  - nearby venues/events, easy toggles between views (list, map, chaos),

  - detailed venue profiles (accessibility, vibe, events, analytics)

  - user-friendly check-in and booking requests.

• Business App: Clear, straightforward management interface to:

  - register venues

  - view customer analytics

  - handle booking requests

  - easily update venue profiles with videos/photos.

Backend:

GET: venues (filter by location, tags/mood, opening hours, accessibility requirements, etc)

GET: events (filter by location, tags/mood, opening hours, accessibility requirements, etc)

GET: users currently checked in to a venue

POST: check in to a venue

POST: request a booking

ML to collate information on venues based on the characteristics of the users who have checked in, factoring in frequency of usage, as well as feedback from users. This would improve venue recommendations in the future.

Database:

Venue information: address, description, descriptive tags, photos and videos, events, utilisation data for analytics

Event information: venue, date, time, description, capacity, attendees

User information: name, age, mood filters, bookings, community posts

Challenges

What did you struggle with? How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge we faced was the scope of the problem and the range of requirements - as it was very broad, we wanted to create a project that addressed as many of the problems as possible. We struggled to narrow this down into must-haves and nice-to-haves, or requirements for an MVP and potential future developments.

To address this we started by breaking down the challenge into the problems faced by users and the problems faced by businesses/third space venues. We talked through different user stories and how we could build a solution that tackled as broadly as possible.

For example, a young person might be looking for a third space to study or work somewhere that isn't home or the office, or they might want to hang out with friends, someone with young kids might be looking for somewhere where children running around and making noise isn't going to be a problem, maybe somewhere where other families are likely to be, and an old person might want somewhere hosting community events, or somewhere with an older demographic. All of these could be addressed by having visible analytics to the user displaying how busy a venue is at different times of day, and what the different demographics are across the day. This information could be collated by users checking in, or potentially by prompting a venue to semi-regularly provide a quick survey of their customers.

Accomplishments

What did you learn? What did you accomplish?

Through this project, we defined and narrowed a broad challenge into a clear, actionable solution.

We learned to prioritise the most impactful features, balancing user experience, technical feasibility, and business needs.

Specifically, we designed an intuitive, practical solution that improves community connections and supports local venues by increasing visibility and utilisation.

Our biggest achievement was developing a clear prototype concept, demonstrating how intuitive discovery, personalised recommendations, and seamless bookings can revitalise community spaces.

Next Steps

What are the next steps for your project? How can you improve it?

We discussed a number of potential developments to this, such as:

• display other users also checked in to a venue, so

• user badges for people who have checked into a certain number of venues, or venues of a particular type or in a particular area

• analytics available to venues to show what other venues near them are doing differently, either to highlight a gap in the market, or where they are targeting the wrong demographic.

• communities - users can join groups with similar interests that may host events or facilitate meet ups

• mood matching - similar to the Spotify Daylist, ML could be used to learn when a user is likely to be in a certain mood and suggest venues based on this

Marketing strategy

We  are focused on clearly connecting two core audiences. Users seeking welcoming third spaces and venues looking to attract consistent visitors.

Who we’re targeting:
We aim to attract students, freelancers, remote workers, families, community groups, and small businesses searching for affordable, convenient, and welcoming places.

What’s our message?
To users, we promise: “Find your vibe, anytime, anywhere.”
To venues, we highlight: “Fill your space, build your community, maximise your revenue.”

How will we reach them?
We'll build awareness through visually engaging social media content (Instagram, TikTok), professional engagement via LinkedIn, and local partnerships with cafés, libraries, and community hubs. We’ll actively participate in local events, collaborate on community boards, and partner with universities and coworking spaces to maximise visibility.

Launch Activities
We'll kick off with a “Find Your Vibe” Week encouraging users to explore and check into different venues, offering perks and rewards for active participation. Referral incentives will encourage organic growth by rewarding users who bring friends onto the app.

Measuring Success
We'll track user adoption rates, venue sign-ups, active user engagement, and retention. Referral numbers and community feedback will guide ongoing improvements.