Overview About 3 Sided Cube

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) approached 3 Sided Cube with the goal to bring people together, to co-design and co-deliver knowledge for protecting and better managing the ocean. The main challenge was that they were really great at reaching their existing audience via their website, but there were loads of “ocean stakeholders” that the platform just wasn’t engaging with or reaching at all. The website was confusing and there was no area in particular where everyone could collaborate to bring their scientific knowledge to one place to save our seas. This made getting people actively involved in their “Ocean Decade” challenge to make our oceans more sustainable by 2030 all the more difficult. They needed something streamlined and simple for their audience to use, and that’s where we come in! The first part of the solution was creating a drastically simpler information architecture. We broke it down to its component parts, then did a survey from the users. With that survey, we could glean what the user priorities were. We tested within those different user stakeholder groups to see how the priority of information would change depending upon the user type.  With the results from the UAT, we saw clear patterns emerge within the user groups and were confident in restructuring the information architecture in a way that was simple and straightforward for users. We developed a website whose main purpose is to give people the information to understand what the Ocean Decade challenge is, and encourage users to sign-up to the global stakeholder forum. Over 4,200 ocean-minded professionals, experts and citizens have now joined the community and are actively working together to perform actions to transform our ocean. Their vision is the science we need for the ocean we want! We were able to really simplify and streamline the amount of information and pages that users were up against on the old platform.

Global Forest Watch - A conservation app to save our forests

Forest Watcher is a mobile application created with our client Global Forest Watch to empower users to easily monitor forests, access deforestation alerts and detect changes using near real-time data and mapping tech. Part of the World Resources Institute, the initiative aims to harness cutting-edge technology to track what’s happening in our forests right now. Forest Watcher uses visualisation software, mapping and tracking alerts in order to help prevent deforestation, report illegal logging and help organisations to maintain an ethical supply chain. Global Forest Watch had previously worked to bring its existing online monitoring platform into the hands of forest lovers everywhere. 3 Sided Cube was challenged with making the mobile platform more dynamic, easy to use, robust and resilient. No small feat, but environmental app development is a cause we were exhilarated to rally behind. Our team needed to unite satellite technology, open data, and crowdsourcing to guarantee access to timely and reliable information. Putting the power to halt forest loss at your fingertips. Forest Watcher enables users to conveniently access Global Forest Watch’s forest change data on any mobile device, navigate to areas of detected change, and collect information about what they find in order to monitor and maintain the world’s green areas.

Migrant Leaders - An app to revolutionise mentorship for young migrants

Imagine navigating a world where potential is brimming but opportunities are scarce. That’s the reality for millions of young migrants. Migrant Leaders saw this gap and set out to change it, determined to provide these young minds with the mentorship and resources they desperately needed. The challenge was monumental: create a scalable, efficient platform that not only connects mentees with mentors from over 95 FTSE100 and Fortune 500 firms but also automates the matching process to save time and ensure perfect pairings. This platform needed to offer comprehensive resources and opportunities to help young migrants navigate their careers and personal development effectively. Enter the team, the Cubies brought our signature mix of expertise, innovation, and passion for building tech for good to the table. We partnered with Migrant Leaders to develop a groundbreaking mobile app that would revolutionise mentorship for young migrants. We built a dynamic, user-friendly mobile app for both iOS and Android platforms, ensuring everyone could access it. Our team of ridiculously talented Cubies powered the backend with Firebase and AWS, guaranteeing a robust, scalable, and reliable solution. The real secret sauce lay in our custom-built algorithm. This clever piece of tech matched mentees with mentors based on shared goals, interests, and professional backgrounds.  The Migrant Leaders mobile app offers mentoring connections, insights, and opportunities. It features automated mentor-mentee matching based on goals and expertise, supported by detailed profiles. Users gain access to a wealth of resources and thought leadership from mentors and corporate partners.

NPSA - An app to keep the population secure online

The National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) approached 3 Sided Cube because they wanted an app that gives users a more immersive experience in learning about and reporting upon online threats. In recent years, there has been an increase in malicious online approaches by organised criminals and nation-states who are trying to target individuals in the UK. Several news outlets have reported on the threat from espionage in particular and so NPSA wanted to develop an app that had practical advice, guidance and tools. We delivered a Native iOS and Android app that offers a learning module feature where users can earn trophies upon the completion of each module course completed. Another feature the app offers is the ability to report profiles for NPSA to further investigate. A challenge we enjoyed really sinking our teeth into was building the app completely serverless whilst also providing the ability to customise and tailor the content for NPSA’s various audiences. This means “Think Before You Link” has no Content Management System (CMS) and is a completely self-contained build. For security reasons within the organisation this was the ideal outcome.

Groundwater flooding poses a substantial threat to various communities across the UK. Unlike surface water flooding, which is often visible and immediate, groundwater flooding results from prolonged rainfall causing the water table to rise, leading to flooding from below ground. This type of flooding can be especially tricky because it can occur days or even weeks after heavy rainfall, making it difficult to predict and manage. Project Groundwater is on a mission to tackle these challenges head-on. They collaborate with local authorities, environmental agencies, and community groups to develop solutions that enhance preparedness and resilience against groundwater flooding events. At 3 Sided Cube, we dove into developing a comprehensive Groundwater Flooding Portal. Our goal was to create a solution that would provide timely information, enhance community preparedness, and support proactive response measures. The entire 3 Sided Cube team is incredibly proud of the Groundwater Flooding Portal. It’s been crafted (and coded) to make a real difference in how communities prepare for and respond to groundwater flooding. While the platform is still in its early stages, the foundation is set to deliver meaningful results. The portal isn’t just another piece of tech—it’s a bespoke digital solution that offers timely alerts, and integrates diverse data sets for accurate forecasting. We’ve designed the platform to empower users with the knowledge they need to take proactive steps in safeguarding against groundwater flooding. While it’s early to gauge the full impact, we’re excited about what’s to come. Watch this space for updates as the flood season approaches, with communities now armed with the Groundwater Flooding Portal.

Virtual Doctors - An app to help improve primary healthcare in remote and impoverished areas of sub-Saharan Africa

In Zambia there is 1 doctor for every 12,000 people, so 3 Sided Cube built a scalable, efficient solution to work reliably offline, and help improve local primary healthcare in some of the most remote and impoverished areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Virtual Doctors relies heavily on technology to facilitate communication between clinical officers in remote locations and the Virtual Doctors volunteers. However, the existing app was outdated, buggy, and not built to scale. It struggled with offline functionality, which is crucial since clinical officers often work in areas with limited or no internet access. The solution involved developing two key products: an admin portal and a mobile app for Android. The admin portal was designed for UK-based virtual doctors to manage cases and view dashboards. The mobile app was designed for clinical officers who work offline to log cases and sync information when online. This approach aimed to address the scalability issues and improve the offline functionality critical to the life-saving work of Virtual Doctors operations. Every single day this app allows volunteer doctors to offer advice to diagnose conditions, and manage and treat patients. This assists and empowers local health workers, helps support the reduction in mortality rates & hospital referrals, and furthers the Clinical Officers’ medical education.

UNHCR - An app to support the improved wellbeing of refugees

3 Sided Cube were approached by UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as they wanted to develop new innovative technology solutions that improved the wellbeing of refugees and encouraged more private-sector donations. The aim of the app was to positively impact an initial group of Syrian refugees in Jordan so UNHCR needed a robust platform that was safe and secure for refugees and donors. The solution, Connecting Worlds Family, is a react native app that consists of multi-language content targeted at multi-countries. The app is focused on security, with the safety of refugees being paramount for UNHCR so 3 Sided Cube included many checkpoints in place to ensure this.

Glastonbury Festival - An app to truly elevate the festival experience for every attendee

Glastonbury, the world’s largest and most iconic music Festival, teamed up with Vodafone and Fuse Agency and approached 3 Sided Cube to create an app that would truly elevate the Festival experience for every attendee. The official Glastonbury Festival 2024 mobile app – powered by Vodafone – launched on both Apple iOS and Android platforms on June 7th 2024! Navigating the world’s biggest music Festival was no mean feat, and with the app, it was easier than ever! Traversing the sprawling Festival grounds needed to be a breeze. Our solution was to integrate an intuitive live interactive map that helped attendees find stages, areas, vendors, and venues effortlessly, ensuring they never missed a beat of the action. With over 225,000 downloads, of which 88.9% were from Festival-goers onsite, while 11.1% were from people viewing at home, the app saw remarkable engagement. Festival-goers spent more than 305,000 hours using the app, showcasing its vital role in their Festival planning and experience. The Spotify integration was a standout feature, with 94,200 artists recommended, allowing users to discover and get excited about new music. From launch to the Festival’s close, the Glastonbury 2024 app proved to be a game-changer, delivering a seamless, enriched, and unforgettable Festival journey for all who used it.

With the reduction of deforestation high on many agendas, 3 Sided Cube partnered with The World Resources Institute to build an app and web platform that connects funding from serious investors to people growing trees and restoring land. The solution, Terramatch, is a web platform as well as a react native app, backed by WRI research. TerraMatch is the “Match.com” for restoration, connecting project managers that want to complete restoration projects with organisations that want to fund these types of projects. Since the launch, the platform has already seen over a hundred organisations sign up and this is continuing to grow. With interest from large corporates such as Mastercard, who have selected WRI to lead the tree planting efforts of 100 million trees in five years, this shows the need for the app to help reach the goal of restoring 60 billion trees.

American Red Cross - The world's first blood tracking app

With blood banks at an all-time low and blood donations continuing to drop-off all across the US, The American Red Cross reached out to 3 Sided Cube to develop a solution that would disrupt the donation process and transform the way America gives blood. Blood Donor is the world’s first ever blood-tracking app! It encourages, engages and motivates potential and existing donors. The platform needed to make the donation process more convenient and the experience more rewarding. We developed a revolutionary mobile solution that has won several international awards including a Webby for Best Health App. We all had a mini fist pump moment when Blood Donor topped the one million downloads mark.  It’s an app that has saved lives, changed the industry, but more importantly, helped to bring in over $90 million in revenue for the charity and save thousands of lives. Donors can actually track their blood and see the hospital that it ends up at and when it has arrived. Being able to obtain this level of detail is amazing and can really encourage donors to keep going as they can appreciate the lives it is going to save – providing a reminder that ordinary people do extraordinary things when they give blood. With over 5 million global downloads and 600,000 donations being used in life-saving operations, it’s no wonder Blood Donor became the #1 Health app in the App Store. In the 8 years, we have had the privilege of not only working with but building a strong relationship with the American Red Cross.  In that partnership, we have been able to constantly improve upon, and add features to this vital app! Fast Facts: Webby Award Winner 2016 No.1 Health App in the US 5 million+ downloads 22.7% increase in appointment show rates $90 million in revenue generated 1,800,000+ lives saved 200k+ appointments booked per month

Natural disasters cause some of the most devastating catastrophes the world has ever seen, luckily for communities all across the world, the Global Disaster Preparedness Center reached out to 3 Sided Cube to design a technical solution that allowed their users to prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters. The suite of apps track different disasters from hurricanes and tornadoes to earthquakes and flash-floods. Providing users with fact files and quizzes on how to prepare, emergency alerts and push notification to let them know when they’re in immediate danger and live-maps so they can plan evacuation routes to their nearest Red Cross shelter. 10 million+ downloads in 87 countries Webby winner Health App of the Year Finalist App of the Year at the UK App Awards 100 million+ push notifications sent during hurricane season 2018 Over 75 million requests-to-server during hurricane season 2018

Nordstrom - Informing thousands of American employees hrough an app

Nordstrom got in touch with 3 Sided Cube as they needed to create a way to communicate important information across their stores to their employees. These resources included detailed information on what to do in the case of an emergency such as a natural disaster or an active shooter. Their current process was using a physical manual, but as the brand was growing at an immense speed, they needed to ensure that this information was easily accessible for anyone within the company. We created an iOS and Android mobile app as well as a web platform to house all the vital information. This included all the necessary details of how to respond and recover from a list of potential emergencies.

Lush - An app to save our oceans

Lush asked 3 SIDED CUBE to aid them in the ambitious move to open the world’s first package-free cosmetics store. Lush needed a way of utilising technology to create a completely new and unique experience for customers visiting the concept store in Milan. We knew image-recognition technology built into an app on mobile devices could identify the distinctive Lush Naked range. The key to this was the use the machine learning ability of the technology to identify a product through a mobile device’s camera and then delivering all the relevant information from product names to descriptions, ingredients and even health benefits. Developed with the Lush’s in-house digital team, we created ‘Lush Lens’, an app that enabled users to scan the package-free products directly in store. It then uses machine learning image recognition to match the image with a database and provide the necessary product information, that would usually be included in the (now redundant) packaging. The app had to recognise products including soap bars, bath bombs and solid shower gels as well as the variations of these; such as different colours, shapes and pattern differences.

PolyTag - Transforming the way the world recycles

3 Sided Cube partnered with PolyTag to put power into the hands of consumers by transforming the recycling process. We designed and developed a mobile app which allows consumers to scan multiple plastic products to discover the best way to recycle them. Giving them the opportunity to better separate different types of plastics and have them collected by PolyTag; allowing the waste to be more efficiently recycled.

RSPB needed a way to take their Giving Nature A Home campaign and reach a younger audience on a completely new platform, giving the charity’s supporters everything they needed to support the cause from the comfort of their own gardens. The Give Nature a Home app lets the RSPB community customise conservation plans based on the size of their garden, time of year and amount of free-time, meaning that users only take on conservation projects which suit them. Gamification engages and retains new and existing RSPB supporters, who can earn badges for the different kinds of wildlife they’re helping to protect. Taking part in different quizzes and fact files, as well as completing different conservation activities to earn these badges and show their contribution to achieving RSPB’s cause. To date, the app has facilitated nearly 4,000 completed projects, 5,000 earned badges and an average session time of 3:00 minutes.