Case Study

Europe's largest student hackathon

START Hack is a 36-hour hackathon at the University of St. Gallen that brings together 3,000+ students, mentors and sponsors. We built the official Flutter Web app to keep all participants connected and informed throughout the event.

Platform:iOS & Android
Industry:Events / EdTech

Project overview

The challenge

Coordinating 3,000+ participants, dozens of challenge tracks and a packed 36-hour schedule across a university campus is a logistical challenge. The organising team needed a single source of truth that attendees could rely on.

Our solution

We designed and built a Flutter Web app that serves as the event's central hub — live schedule, venue maps, challenge briefs, team formation tools and real-time notifications, all backed by a PostgreSQL database on Google Cloud.

The impact

The app became a core part of the START Hack experience — reducing information overhead for organisers and giving every participant a smooth, connected event from kickoff to final pitch.

Key features

Everything a hacker needs

Hacker app

Participants access schedules, maps, challenges and team info from a single mobile app.

Live schedule

Real-time event updates keep 3,000+ attendees in sync across the 36-hour sprint.

Team management

Hackers form teams, find collaborators and track project submissions in-app.

Flutter Web

Flutter Web delivers a native-quality experience directly in the browser — no app store download required.

Design & UX

Built for late-night focus

A 36-hour hackathon means tired eyes at 3 AM. We designed the app with dark-first aesthetics, high contrast, and minimal interaction depth — so participants can find what they need instantly, even on zero sleep.

Clear typography hierarchy and colour-coded challenge tracks let hackers scan the schedule and identify their sessions at a glance, without getting lost in nested menus.

START Hack – event platform UI design and participant flow
START Hack – scalable hackathon management platform technology view

Technology

The tech stack

Flutter Web powers the event platform from a single codebase — running directly in the browser, no installation needed. PostgreSQL on Google Cloud handles the event data — schedules, teams, challenges and participants — with the reliability required for a live 36-hour event.

Flutter WebFlutter Web
PostgreSQLPostgreSQL
Google CloudGoogle Cloud
FirebaseFirebase

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