Bare The Collective is a digital journaling platform that merges creativity with community. Built from the ground up, it allows users to create interactive junk journals using virtual stickers, custom uploads, text tools, and themed assets—all while embracing a feminine tech-meets-vintage aesthetic.
Key Features
Interactive drag, drop, resize, and rotate journaling interface
Sticker drawer with themed tabs (e.g. washi, fabric, text)
Google Fonts support with advanced text styling
User authentication and profile pages with moodboard + journal management
Upload your own assets and create personalized pages
Undo/redo functionality and layer organization
Tech Stack
HTML/CSS/JavaScript
Node.js & Express
MySQL (with Workbench)
Multer (for image uploads)
Docker (for local development)
NGINX & PM2 (for live deployment)
My Role
Solo Founder, Full Stack Developer, and Designer
Responsible for database architecture, backend API development, frontend interactivity, image handling, user login system, and overall UI/UX.
Challenges & Solutions
Had to debug broken image uploads due to MIME type conflicts—solved by validating file types in Multer and testing upload routes thoroughly
Ensured transform data like drag/resize/rotate persisted in MySQL using CSS `transform` extraction logic
Struggled with sticky layout bugs and z-index issues in layered canvas editing—resolved through element re-rendering and strict z-index management
