Memory
Using human memory as the foundation for the next-generation photo management application.
Project Thesis
Memory is a lost concept in today’s digital world.
The arrival of the smartphone set off a revolution in photography. Everyone now owns a camera, and everyone is taking pictures. Constantly. So much so that we generate 1.81 trillion photos a year.
So they become cheap. They’re taken and forgotten, lost in the abyss of your photo album. They become an extension of our brain’s functions. Thus, we will never have to dedicate time to truly immerse ourselves in the moment and engrave it into our memories.
I asked myself: How can we use our phones to preserve memories, rather than diminish them?
Introducing Memory
Memory lets you creates digital memories. You use the app to document important moments, forget about them, and see them as a cohesive memory twelve hours later. You find pictures and videos by recalling the title and details of the Memory, not the time or location that it was taken. We want you to never take a meaningless photo again, never pose strangers again, and never forget an important moment in life again.
Process
From the beginning, I wanted Memory to be utilitarian yet beautiful. The user should capture moments fast and feel like their memories are kept safely in the app. But at the same time, they should engage with a beautiful User Interface.
Nothing.tech's dot font offers an ideal blend of industrial aesthetic, simplicity, and creativity for expressive design.
Applied to Memory, it makes the User Experience unique yet functional.
An expansive, minimalist feed focuses on the content itself, not comments, likes, or DMs.
A distinct circular interface for memory creation makes capturing key moments straightforward and distraction-free.
A modular design for the profile page displays both the memory title and content previews, as opposed to only previews in traditional photo libraries.
Results
Memory was beta-tested by 10+ users, but ultimately, retention issues led to the end of the project. Yet, the issue remains. My hope is that Memory will catalyze a new generation of more natural, purpose focused social-photo platforms in the future.
