The problem
Indigo has a two-decade legacy of physical sticker albums and a community that has grown around them. But the new audience lives digitally too, not just on the printed album. The client wanted to bring their original experience into the web world without devaluing the physical product — to make the physical stickers more valuable, not redundant — and have it be more than a mobile catalog: a full digital extension of the brand: collection, game, community, and a store in one app.
What we built
We developed a customer-facing web app that turns physical stickers into the entry point to a complete digital ecosystem. Every sticker has a QR code on the back (we coordinated the print process with the client). The user scans the sticker with the phone camera directly from the browser — without installing an app — and the sticker drops into their digital album with coins and XP as a reward. From the same app they play a daily quiz tied to the album, take part in weekly prize draws, connect the Indigo account with Discord (the role on the Discord server is automatically synced with the level in the app), and order products from the store — the full flow: cart, payment, order confirmation. Behind the scenes, the app is architecturally split into two completely separate sides — public (customers and fans) and admin.
Modules & surfaces
- QR code scanningScanning with the phone camera directly in the browser — without installing an app. A QR code printed on the back of every sticker; we coordinated the print process with the client.
- Digital album and collectionA visual digital album that tracks the physical product page by page, with progression specific to each user.
- Daily quizA quiz tied to the album that refreshes every day — earns coins, XP, and tickets for the weekly prize draws.
- Weekly prize drawsPrize draws reserved for active collectors; full cycle from entry to drawing and award.
- Discord integrationLinking the Indigo account with a Discord account; XP level in the app automatically becomes a role on the Discord server. The community sees ranks live.
- Store and ordersProducts, cart, ordering, confirmation — all in the same app. Indigo sells directly to its community, which already uses the app for scanning and the quiz.
- News and contentA module for publishing news and announcements to the community from the same admin.
- User profile and progressionProfile with collection, statistics, XP level, and order history — a unified identity across all modules.
- 3D visualsThree.js scenes for interactive visual moments — rotating stickers, reward animations.
How we approached it
We started with UX/UI design in Figma — this is a consumer product, the visual language has to lead, not follow. We first built the basic scan-and-collect loop as an MVP — we dropped everything else until that worked perfectly. After that we layered in gamification (coins, XP, quiz, prize draws), then the Discord integration (the audience was already there — connecting the app with the server deepened engagement in one move), and finally the store — the same audience that scans and plays the quiz can now order directly. The architectural split between public and staff (two separate tRPC trees, two Better Auth systems) protected the public surface from the complexity of administration and vice versa. We're currently in the third major version, with every scope expansion the client orders.
Outcome
Indigo now has a direct line to its community that the physical product alone never offered. The app is in its third version, with continuous expansion of scope — from the basics (scanning and the album) to today's state that includes the quiz, prize draws, the store, and 3D visuals. We do all their software projects.