CampSorted, Built From Lived Frustration

The CampSorted project was a custom web design created for a small business owner who operated a daycare in Fairfax County, Virginia. As both a childcare professional and a working parent, she had firsthand experience with how difficult it is for families to research, compare, and enroll children in summer camps while balancing full-time work. She approached me with the goal of creating a centralized, easy-to-use system that would allow parents to quickly sort and evaluate local summer camp options.

The project was built on top of a proprietary web application framework I had developed for a previous project. This framework powers a dynamic sorting system driven by structured inputs stored in Airtable. Camps could be filtered and organized based on parent-focused criteria such as age range, schedule compatibility, and program type. To protect the underlying data and ensure performance stability, the Airtable API was secured behind a server-side proxy, preventing direct public access and limiting unnecessary API usage. This architecture also made the system scalable and reusable, and it later became the foundation for additional public-facing tools I developed using Cloudflare-based infrastructure.

The entire CampSorted experience, including the marketing site, the interactive sorting tool, and a dedicated help center, was built and maintained within Squarespace. This decision was intentional. The client wanted a lightweight, low-maintenance solution that avoided unnecessary complexity or tool sprawl. I designed and documented the system so it could be easily updated and managed without technical overhead, ensuring long-term usability for a small operation.

CampSorted reflects the type of work I care most about. Helping clients take an idea rooted in real experience and build on what they already have. I enjoy partnering with people who are passionate about their work and supporting them as they turn practical frustrations into thoughtful, usable solutions.