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Memory Box

Keeping Family stories alive

Challenge

Many families struggle to preserve and organize their personal and ancestral histories—photos, audio, documents, and memories—spread across digital and analog platforms. There was no intuitive, unified tool that supports people in collecting and sharing family heritage in a meaningful, secure, and simple way.

Product definition

Create a digital solution that makes archiving and sharing family memories intuitive, accessible, and emotionally engaging—even for less tech-savvy users.

My role

Product designer, UI creator, UX Researcher, Strategist, Prototyper, Tester

Memory Box
Memory Box
Memory Box
5 min read
5 min read
5 min read
Lifestyle & education
Lifestyle & education
Lifestyle & education
8 months
8 months
8 months
Startup / MVP
Startup / MVP
Startup / MVP

Design process

01. Research

In the research phase, I spoke with stakeholders to better understand the product goals, and then desk research was conducted to learn about existing digital solutions for archiving family history. Next, I conducted interviews with 19 family history enthusiasts to understand their needs and challenges. I conducted research on concurrency features to determine whether we could provide enhanced functionality.

02. Analysis

Based on the collected data, key user problems and needs were identified. Personas  representing different segments of the target group were created.

03. Strategy

I developed a strategy for the application's design, emphasizing simplicity, intuitiveness, and functionality. We decided to use AI to assist the user in learning the application, tagging materials, and creating a story.

04. Ideate

I designed the information architecture, user flows, and interface mockups. I created an interactive prototype of the application.

05. Prototyping

During the prototyping phase, an interactive prototype of the application was created, which was tested with users.

06. Testing

Usability tests with 10 users were conducted to verify the intuitiveness and functionality of the application. I implemented improvements to the design based on the collected data.

Research

User needs research

The study aimed to understand the target group—people interested in family history and archiving. To achieve this, I applied two research methods:


  • Interviews – I conducted 19 interviews with people from Poland, Ukraine, and individuals with Jewish, German, and Czech heritage.

  • Desk Research – I analyzed existing digital solutions to explore behavioral patterns among individuals interested in preserving family memories and artifacts (our first research objective).

The data gathered from both methods were consistent, allowing us to identify key trends, needs, and barriers related to collecting family history and organizing private archives. This research also enabled us to create three personas representing key segments of our target audience—those curious about their family history and self-identity, individuals who actively participate in family life, and those who enjoy storytelling and recording memories using various tools.

Intervies process

Two recruitment approaches were used:

a. Facebook groups dedicated to genealogy, where we could find people already engaged in family history research.


b. General community groups, like local neighborhood groups, where we could reach people who might have an interest but were not yet actively involved.

a. Facebook groups dedicated to genealogy, where we could find people already engaged in family history research.


b. General community groups, like local neighborhood groups, where we could reach people who might have an interest but were not yet actively involved.

For each group, I posted two different messages:

The first post contained a short introduction to the project and an invitation to participate.


The second post included screening questions to filter out people who associated family history only with taking photos of the current generation.

In total, we conducted 19 interviews:

6 respondents came from general community groups.


13 respondents replied to a post in the “genealodzy.pl” group.


3 interviews were conducted in person, while the rest took place online.

Key Findings

Fragmentation

Memories are scattered—Word docs, Excel, photos on phones, Facebook groups.

Overwhelming Interfaces

Existing apps like MyHeritage, Ancestry, Family Search are too complex.

Strong Emotional Motivation

Users deeply value preserving memory for future generations.

Users deeply value preserving memory for future generations.

Desk research key findings

Evaluated tools like MyHeritage, FamilySearch, Ancestry. None offered:

Storytelling with rich media
Easy collaboration across families
Language, support for non-English speaking users

Analysis

Personas - journey maps

I decided to create the personas and journey maps to significantly enhance the effectiveness of MVP. It helps to prioritize the development of features that address the most critical pain points and needs of each persona.

Users quotes

"Our identity is woven from a vast number of our choices and circumstances—our ancestors."

"Every discovery is an expansion of knowledge about ancestors; it broadens our awareness."

"To think about your ancestors, you need to mature or grow up."

"Discovering one's own heritage is better than therapy; by studying genealogy, we understand our conditions."

Strategy

Design Strategy

I framed our solution around three core features:

Story Creation

Users create audio-visual family stories (manual, semi-auto, AI-generated).

  • Story - a narrative created from a minimal amount of material, which can be continuously enriched over time. 


  • Users can share their stories with others, invite collaborators for editing, and leave comments.


  • Materials are automatically organized, with tags for people and places generated as a byproduct of the storytelling process, supported by AI.


  • Data security is a priority, ensuring backups and full control over personal content.


  • Additionally, user can generate avatars based on uploaded resources related to a specific person.

Memory Library

A smart, taggable repository for organizing materials (photos, docs, audio, etc.).

  • Hosting discussion groups related to family stories.


  • Unique story visualization, correlating the narrator’s life with time and place.


  • Creation and visualization of a simple family tree.


  • Different user permission levels, assigned by the main user.


  • Features adapt to the user's skills— a dynamic user profile evolves based on behavior.


  • Support for multiple file formats.


  • Category-based search, story templates, and personalization options.


  • AI-generated narration based on the real voice and photo animation.

Avatar Creation

We didn't release this feature because the AI market was new in 2022. The development team was told that there was no technology capable of supporting this feature.

  • AI-driven avatar development.


  • Automated reminders and surprises generated by the app from the user’s library, with editing options.


  • Ability to create a printed book from stored materials.


  • Notifications to keep users engaged.


  • Creation of a family crest and ex libris.

Success metrics.
Five key areas

✨ Happiness was measured by user activity such as the number of story creations, shares, forum actions, and successful completions, as well as the growth of user libraries and active user flow. 


✨ Engagement focused on the pace and volume of new stories, document additions, chat activity, and interaction with categorized content. 


✨ Adoption looked at the increase in new users and followers, alongside the development of their skills over time. 


✨ Retention evaluated ongoing user activity, growth trends, and follower interactions throughout the app lifecycle.


✨ Task Success was assessed by the number of successfully completed actions and active participant involvement.

Ideation

Scenarios/ Sketching/ User flows

Based on the previously collected data, I developed a hypothesis about how potential users could use the app. Based on these insights, I created potential scenarios that illustrate the moments in the user's life when they would want to use the Memorybox app. Basing on the scenarios, I drew the parts of the information architecture (diagrams) and then the sketches of the first screens.

Information architecture

To better understand where the user flows intertwine, I created the information architecture.

Prototyping/ Testing

Usability testing
recruitment criteria

Our respondents are individuals who are interested in family history, enjoy the topic, dedicate time to it, and recognize its value. Their motivation to gather related information is strong. We managed to conduct tests with 10 people, including 6 women and 4 men. I was able to meet some of them in person, while others arranged their meetings online. However, without exception, each of these individuals was very eager to share their time with us. The methods and course of the study are described below.

Task-Based Testing

Task-Based Testing

In the second part, the user tested the mobile app prototype on either their own or the moderator's device. They explored the app independently and were then asked to complete several tasks representing key usage scenarios for the MemoryBox app. During this phase, the moderator encouraged "thinking aloud" by actively commenting and describing thoughts and issues encountered.

Task-based testing helped align identified problems with users' informational needs from the first part of the study. It also allowed us to validate the proposed solutions and the overall concept of the app.

Before / After

Home screen

User testing of the main screen revealed confusion between key buttons and an overcrowded interface that overwhelmed users.


Usability recommendations focus on clearer onboarding, better hierarchy, and simplifying the screen by removing unnecessary elements.

Story editing

User testing of the Story Editing feature revealed confusion around key actions, such as adding a new frame and generating a story. Users misunderstood the “plus-new frame” button and were unsure that “generate” was required to create a story, sometimes selecting “preview” instead.


Usability recommendations included redesigning the frame addition button and renaming “generate” to “create/save” for better user understanding.

Before / After
Before / After

Full feel data

User testing of the data completion process revealed concerns about flexibility and organization. Users were unsure if they could edit data later, struggled to find the option to add custom categories, and wanted more control over how data was displayed.


Usability recommendations included adding a visible “fill in later” option, allowing custom categories to be prioritized, and implementing a modular structure for better organization and hierarchy.

Prototyping/ Testing

The MemoryBox project resonated deeply with users—both emotionally and functionally. During user testing with 20 participants, the prototype proved to be not only more intuitive than competing genealogy tools but also much more emotionally engaging. Key outcomes:

MemoryBox sparked a cultural behavior shift toward accessible memory preservation for non-digital natives.

100%

of users felt the app captured the emotional essence of family memories better than tree-based apps.

  • Hosting discussion groups related to family stories.


  • Unique story visualization, correlating the narrator’s life with time and place.


  • Creation and visualization of a simple family tree.


  • Different user permission levels, assigned by the main user.


  • Features adapt to the user's skills— a dynamic user profile evolves based on behavior.


  • Support for multiple file formats.


  • Category-based search, story templates, and personalization options.


  • AI-generated narration based on the real voice and photo animation.

80%

Of users preferred MemoryBox over tools like MyHeritage due to simplicity and storytelling focus.

  • Story - a narrative created from a minimal amount of material, which can be continuously enriched over time. 


  • Users can share their stories with others, invite collaborators for editing, and leave comments.


  • Materials are automatically organized, with tags for people and places generated as a byproduct of the storytelling process, supported by AI.


  • Data security is a priority, ensuring backups and full control over personal content.


  • Additionally, user can generate avatars based on uploaded resources related to a specific person.

Renewed interest

Users reported renewed interest in digitizing and preserving their family archives, and some even shared that the prototype helped initiate intergenerational conversations.

  • AI-driven avatar development.


  • Automated reminders and surprises generated by the app from the user’s library, with editing options.


  • Ability to create a printed book from stored materials.


  • Notifications to keep users engaged.


  • Creation of a family crest and ex libris.

“I finally have a reason to go through all those photo boxes. This made me feel like I was really preserving something valuable.” — Test Participant 12, Age 52

What I learned
as a UX Designer

Progressive disclosure is powerful. Features should evolve with users. By using AI to gradually reveal complexity, I kept the experience accessible without dumbing it down.


People don’t want features. They want stories. Users weren’t excited about tools—they were excited about hearing a loved one’s voice again or seeing memories turned into stories. That shift changed how I prioritized features.

Designing for low-tech users is a high-level challenge.


Creating something that feels simple but does complex things behind the scenes is one of the hardest and most rewarding challenges in UX.

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