Questly / Mobile and web challenge product / Live
Questly turns a prompt into real participation.
Questly is an owned mobile and web product built around photo and video challenges. A participant responds first, then sees how other people approached the same prompt—keeping the product centred on action rather than passive comparison.
- Role
- Product direction, interface design and full-stack development
- Platforms
- Web, iPhone and Android
- Product type
- Photo and video challenge platform
- Status
- Live owned product
Challenge creation · Photo and video proof · Audience-aware discovery · Follower and location contexts · Replies and messaging · Notifications and moderation
01 / The product idea
Most feeds ask people to watch. Questly asks them to do something.
A quest begins with a prompt: notice something, try something, make something or complete a small challenge in the real world. The product is designed around the response, not around endless passive consumption.
The key rule is simple: contribute your own proof before comparing it with everyone else. That rule shapes the feed, the response flow, the reveal and the social behaviour that follows.
02 / The participation flow
Prompt, proof, then the reveal.
- 01
Discover
Find quests through global, follower, city and local-area contexts.
- 02
Respond
Capture or upload photo or video proof through a focused mobile flow.
- 03
Reveal
After contributing, see how other people interpreted the same prompt.
- 04
Continue
Follow, reply, message, archive progress and return through notifications and leaderboards.
03 / Product system
A simple participation rule creates a surprisingly complex set of states.
The product needs to understand who created the quest, who can discover it, whether a participant has responded, what proof type is allowed, when replies unlock and how location or follower context changes the feed.
- Quest creation and scheduling
- Photo and video proof handling
- Audience and location-aware discovery
- Response-gated replies
- Profiles, following and direct messages
- Leaderboards, archives and notifications
- Moderation and administration
04 / Design and technical approach
The mobile flow had to stay clear while media, permissions and audience rules changed around it.
Questly uses a Laravel-backed product system with web and mobile surfaces, account authentication, media uploads, audience-aware feeds, notifications and administration.
The design work is not limited to the successful upload. Camera permission, incomplete proof, unavailable media, locked replies, empty discovery and location boundaries all need understandable states.
The result is a product where the interface rule and the backend rule are the same: participation comes before comparison.
05 / Public product media
The interface in its real context.
06 / Difficult decisions
What building Questly taught me.
- 01
One rule can shape the whole product
Proof before reveal affects discovery, permissions, replies, moderation and the emotional rhythm of participation.
- 02
Location needs visible boundaries
City and local-area experiences must remain useful without making privacy or audience expectations ambiguous.
- 03
Media flows fail in more ways than forms
Permissions, capture, upload, processing and retry states need to stay direct on a small screen.
- 04
Social features should follow the core action
Following, replies, messages and leaderboards are useful only when they reinforce participation rather than replace it.
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