Case study

Fête Finder Discovery

I built search, maps, and saved routes to help people turn a city-wide programme into a night out. The June 2026 recap records 54,295 page views across the programme.

Context
Out Of Office Collective / 2025–26
Focus
Search, maps, route planning, sharing, offline support
Project
fete.outofofficecollective.co.uk

People rarely start with an exact event title. They know an area, a genre, a time, or that they want something free nearby. Once they find a few options, they need to turn them into a route and share it with friends.

AreaWhat I built and why
Find an event

Built search, filters, and maps around place, time, and taste.

A broad idea becomes a smaller set of events to choose from.

Make a plan

Built saved events and routes with ordering and arrival times.

People can organise several stops rather than keep a collection of open tabs.

Share and return

Connected stable event links, saved state, and offline support.

A plan has a way back after the first visit, including when a connection is weak.

ChoiceWhy it matters
Keep the map optionalSearch and filters can do useful work before the MapLibre view loads. Geography adds context without making every visitor wait for a map.
Save a route as its own recordPostgres-backed plans retain stop order and arrival times. Saving a set of favourites alone would lose the sequence that makes it a night out.
Keep identity separate from presentationCanonical event keys let shared links refer to an event even when its listing changes. Browser snapshots and queued changes support returning to saved work during a poor connection.
From a vague idea to a shared plan
  1. FindNarrow the programme by place, time, and taste.
  2. PlanSave stops and decide when to arrive.
  3. ReturnShare the route and open it again later.

The product connects discovering an event, planning several stops, and sharing the result. The June 2026 recap records 54,295 page views and 10,270 outbound clicks, from the production backup taken on 3 July. These count page views and clicks, not unique people.

Finding a good option is only the first part of discovery. The route home to a saved plan matters too: what happens when someone opens the link later, an organiser edits the details, or mobile reception drops?