E-Card Solution

The Project

This project started like all the best ones do, someone said it wasn't possible and I spent my spare time working to make it happen. The goal was to build an eCard system that would allow employees to send brief messages for a variety of subjects.

Key Stakeholders

The initial solution was intended for the limited audience of the Corporate Relations department. Within three months word of mouth spread and the audience expanded to include the entire enterprise.

Requirements

The primary requirement was to provide a variety of animated cards with space for a custom message.
Additional requirements included:
 1. Ensure the custom message can only be read on the card.
 2. Allow messages to be formatted, including line breaks.
 3. Allow extended ASCII characters.
 4. Allow a recipient to view their card long term.
 5. Do not require back-end support or a database solution.

Challenges

As with the video library, we didn't have a database solution so everything had to be done in the browser.

Because of the solution we used, we also needed a way to convert the message from plain text to an unreadable code.

The Solution

My solution includes over 65 animated cards in eight categories and allows short messages with formatting. As this was a side project, I built the site over a four week period including the first set of cards.

The solution quickly became the enterprise recognition solution, even replacing gift cards. Along with some suggestions for features we actually received fan mail!