Our memories shape who we are - comprising our stories, identities, and what we have done. Losing memories due to age “can represent a loss of self,” according to Harvard Health Publishing on memories.

Morgan Barense, Ph.D., Professor and Canada Research Chair Max and Gianna Glassman Endowed Chair in Neuropsychology, showed a strong connection between missing memories and diminished emotional well being. “Positive reminiscence is linked to all sorts of good outcomes in terms of emotional well-being.” A study by the Florida State University on the connection between their sense of purpose and the richness of their memories found that personal memories “help us to set goals, control emotions, and build intimacy with others, as well as “help people to sustain their well-being, social connections, and cognitive health.”

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Problem Background

Given the great benefits of creating memories, there is not a platform that encourages people to make “creating memories” a part of their daily routine and motivates them to live, experience, and tell their stories.

Despite the many benefits social media platforms have to offer, research has shown the impact of increased peer pressure and the need to conform and fit in among people, especially among teenagers and young adults. The question is, “How can we create a platform where the users can tell their stories in the most authentic ways without having to add filters or spend two hours coming up with a caption because they need to be considered “cool, fun, etc.” for their audience?”

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Research Insights & User Pain Points

After conducting secondary research, such as gaining insights from research articles and performing a competitive analysis of current products on the market, we understood more about the context and the growing need for ways to connect better with others. We conducted user interviews to gather more user insights and understand what our users' pain points are.

From our interviews, we discovered the following user pain points:

Users only create new memories when they visit new places or have new experiences
Users are not reminded about a past memory until it comes up in a conversation
Many use a variety of different methods to share memories (photo, video, etc) with family and friends such as email, Google Drive, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc
They find it difficult to search for a specific memory
Creating new memories often meant having less storage space

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Feedback

After consolidating the qualitative data from our user interviews and seeing patterns through affinity mapping, we noticed the main theme of motivation as a topic that came up consistently among our users. There needs to be intentionality behind the decision to initiate and create new memories with other people. Based on this feedback, we decided to focus on the storytelling of memories since our users emphasized greatly how they enjoy talking about and sharing the stories behind past memories with their loved ones.

This feedback allowed us to create a product that encourages users to consistently tell and share their stories behind a chosen memory.

The following are the focus points for the MVP:

A memory entry template to guide users with organization and structure
Daily question prompt cards
Upload photos + write a story requirement
Character minimum for user stories
Share photos with the public
A photo upload size under 10MB
Store and organize memories

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Solution Explanation

Lofi & Hifi Mockups

Lofi Mockup:

Hifi Mockup:

Iterative Design Learnings

After we showcased our prototype to users, we learned that:

Users are confused with how to navigate from the home page to creating a memory entry
The discover page icon does not make sense to the users
There is no confirmation provided to the users once they completed a memory entry
The date number on the photo preview in the memory page is confusing to users
Users can only access their profile from the home page which may not be very accessible

From the user feedback, we made new changes to our design to ensure that we create the best user experience in our MVP.

The following are the design changes:

Add copy to the home page to guide users to click on the question card to create a memory entry
Change the discover icon to a people icon so users know the page is for connecting with others
Give feedback to users once a memory is saved successfully
Remove the date on the photo preview
Use consistent formatting for the memory and favorites page
Add access to the user profile on all main pages

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Implementation Details

Technical implementation

Where is it hosted? Vercel (Front-end) and Heroku (API + Database)
What is your tech stack? Ruby on Rails and Next.js
High level journey of a request: Our product utilizes our in-house API for both authentication and other requests (saving a new memory, fetching all memories). This makes it very reliable and easy to monitor/update and responses are typically delivered between 100ms to 2s

Technical challenges

What was the hardest part of development? Translating some of the UI designs into actual code. There were certain functionalities that required learning new tools and methods.

Does your app have any scaling issues? None for now, our cloud storage for storing images currently has a 25GB monthly limit, which would be enough for hundreds of users because we limit our users to have one image entry per memory and a size limit of 10mb

What are some key takeaways? Working in a team requires patience, constant learning, and openness to feedback

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Future Steps

We will be continuing the project, and the goal is to launch the product (version 1) by the end of 2022.

Once the MVP is finished, we will regroup and discuss feasible features we can develop in the next two months.

Learnings

Product Manager Learnings:

Trinh Dong

I learned to manage the resources within the team and prioritize the workload so we can deliver the product on time while making sure everyone enjoys doing what they are tasked with. I also learned to think like a product manager - asking myself and team members critical questions (why questions) to better understand the product and prioritize the product features we are building.

Designer Learnings:

Pa Chang Vang

I learned that I should always ask for help from my team to drive collaboration and product development faster. Communicating my design ideas early and often with the developers for building feasibility and getting feedback from the product manager helped improve my work efficiency when I was designing.

Designer Learnings:

Jo Sturdivant

Adapting to an Established Team: Joining the team in week 6 of 8 was challenging, as I had to quickly adapt to existing workflows, dynamics, and goals. This mirrors real-world situations where you often integrate into teams mid-project, and flexibility is essential.
Work-Blocking for Efficiency: With only two weeks to complete the project, I learned the importance of a structured work-blocking system. This approach allowed me to manage my time effectively and meet deadlines under pressure.
Making Data-Driven Design Decisions: Unlike my past projects, I had to rely on research conducted by others. This was a valuable experience in using pre-existing data to guide design decisions, helping me focus on the core insights without starting from scratch.

Developer Learnings:

Sodiq Aderibigbe

I learned how to communicate technical concepts to non-technical people and how to do proper feature estimation by working with the product designer to determine the most feasible features to work with and implement.

Developer Learnings:

Vanady Beard

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As the back-end developer, I learned how important it is to create efficient and reliable systems that support the entire application. This experience also taught me the importance of optimising the database and ensuring the backend is scalable and easy to maintain.

Developer Learnings:

Stephen Asiedu

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As a back-end developer, I've come to understand the importance of being familiar with various database systems and modules. This knowledge enables me to build diverse applications and maintain versatility in my work. I've also learned that the responsibility for making the right choices rests on my shoulders, guided by my best judgement.

Developer Learnings:

Oluwanifemi Latunde

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I learned how to be more accommodating and communicate my thoughts more effectively. I learned that no idea is superior or inferior to another, and all ideas are important.

Developer Learnings:

Maurquise Williams

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Process of Creating an MVP: Developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) taught me how to focus on delivering core functionalities balancing between essential features and avoiding scope creep.
Collaboration in a Real-World Tech Setting: This experience taught me how to collaborate efficiently in a fast-paced tech environment, keeping the team aligned and productive, even while working remotely across time zones.
Sharpening Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills: This experience honed my ability to think critically and solve problems efficiently. By tackling challenges and finding quick solutions, I sharpened my decision-making and troubleshooting skills in a dynamic, real-world setting.

Developer Learnings:

Jeremiah Williams

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All in all this experience was very awesome I learned that in coding with others being transparent is key

Developers Learnings:

Justin Farley

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I learned how important communication is when working with a team. Communication provides understanding, advice, ideas, and much more. While working with the product team, I’ve found that communication keeps everything flowing smoothly. Working with a team also showed me that every member brings something different to the table and we all have to work together in order to align and meet our end goal.

Full Team Learning

‍Communications: Being open and expressive about our ideas, no matter how little, is very important in getting the team moving forward.‍
Teamwork: Being clear with our goals and what we want to take out of this experience really helped build the foundation of how this team is going to work together, such as time, commitment, and effort.