Lifebook — Memories App
UX design project for “Human-Computer Interaction” course with IxDF
TL;DRWhen we die, our memories die with us. Our kids can't ask us any more questions — and they probably never wrote down the answers to the ones they've already asked. We carry stories, details, and hard-won knowledge that the people we love most will never think to ask about until it's too late.
Some of us keep running notes on our phones. But fragments aren't a legacy.
A dedicated app (Lifebook) could change that — a private, personal space where you capture memories in whatever form feels natural: a typed story, a voice note, a labeled photo, a family recipe with the instructions only you know by heart. Not a social platform. Not a scrapbook tool. Something quieter than that, and more intentional — built for the day your daughter asks a question and you want the answer to already be waiting for her.
User Persona
Name: Anna Kowalski
Age: 58
Hometown: Houston, TX
Family: Husband, two adult daughters (Polly 28 and Maggie 25), mother (Betty 82)
Occupation: Marketing consultant
Tech comfort: Moderate
“Polly asks me the most beautiful questions about my childhood, and I love answering them — but I know she doesn’t write it down. And Betty can’t remember anymore. I can’t let that happen with my stories.”
Anna’s daughter, Polly, has always been curious about family history, asking about Anna’s childhood, her parents, and especially her grandmother Betty. But Betty’s memory has been fading, and the stories are disappearing with it. Betty’s brother and parents are gone. No one else to ask. Anna watches those stories vanish in real time and thinks: “Polly will have no one to ask someday either.” The app isn’t a new behavior. Anna already keeps sprawling Apple Notes for her daughters. The app is an answer to the feeling that fragments aren’t enough.
Goals:
Polly can “hear” Anna’s voice after she’s gone
Anna’s life story has a through-line, not just fragments
Photos and video are labeled
Capture something meaningful in under 5 minutes
Frustrations:
Apple Notes pile up with no structure or story arc
Photos with no labels
Betty’s stories are gone; no one left to fill in the gaps
Apps that require long setup before delivering value
How Anna would use the app:
Anna doesn’t want to sit down for a “session.” She wants to open the app when Polly asks a question she’s already answered three times, capture it properly, and move on. She loves the idea of prompts. “Tell me about your first best friend” turns a blank page into an invitation. She’d also add photos on the spot and label them while the context is fresh. Someday she imagines sharing a finished collection with both daughters — not a document, something like feels like her.
A Day in Anna’s Life
It's a Tuesday evening and Anna is on the phone with Polly, who's been asking about Betty — what was she like when she was young? Did she date anyone before Grandpa? Anna answers from memory, laughing, filling in details she's carried for decades. After they hang up, she thinks: Polly will never remember all of that. She opens her Apple Notes and starts typing, but the note lands in a pile of 200 others with no context, no photo, no way for Polly to ever find it.
A week later Anna is at Betty's house, sorting through a box of old photographs. She holds up a picture of a young woman she doesn't recognize. Betty looks at it for a long moment. "I don't know," she says. Anna sets it aside.
That night sits at the dining table and opens the legacy app (Lifebook) for the first time in a few days. The prompt waiting for her is: Tell me about someone who shaped who you are. She thinks of Betty — sharp, funny, impossible — and starts typing.
Anna pulls out a few photos from her large collection and takes photos of the photos with her phone (in app). She adds a voice message describing the photos. Twenty minutes later she has something real: a story, labeled photos she scanned with her phone, and the feeling that Polly will actually be able to find this someday. She closes the app and goes to bed.
Wireframes
Click to expand
Wireframes 1
Wireframes for welcome screen, home dashboard, and add a memory pt 1.
Wireframes 2
Wireframes for add memory pt 2, memory details, and recipe entry.
Wireframes 3
Wireframe for sharing access.
Prototype
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Home dashboard
What Anna sees when she opens the app. Anna is greeted by a prompt of the day which she can tap to answer right away. She sees scrolling memories that she’s already created. In the upper right corner, she choose to share her Lifebook or add a new memory — bypassing the prompt of the day.
The navigation bar at the bottom gives Anna ready access to the home dashboard, all of her memories in the library, adding a new memory, searching memories, and accessing settings and her profile.
Prompt screen
The heart of the app, displaying prompts to make it easier for Anna to create a memory.
When Anna taps the plus button on the home dashboard or in the navigation bar, she sees the prompt of the day, as well as other suggested prompts. She has the option to scroll through other prompts if none of these inspires her in the moment. The intention behind the prompts is to make it easier for Anna to create a memory without struggling to come up with something. We don’t want creating a memory to feel like a chore.
But, if Anna has thought of something on her own, she can select to add her own.
Memory entry screen
The actual capture screen, giving Anna options to write text, add a photo, record audio or video, and upload a file.
At the top of the screen is a reminder that this is today’s prompt and what the prompt is.
She can add text, upload a photo, create a voice note, record video (option given after clicking on “record”), or upload a file (audio, video, PDF, almost whatever).
Memory detail screen
What a completed entry looks like when Anna or Polly looks at it.
In Anna’s view, she has the options to edit the text or anything else on the screen. She can download the memory to her device, share right from the memory, or add more to the memory.
On Polly’s screen, she does not have editing, adding, or deleting access.
Recipe entry screen
Where Anna can share family-favorite recipes — secret ingredients and all.
This is a simple screen for the basics of a recipe. Unlike dedicated recipe apps, Lifebook does not scale ingredients or convert measurements. That’s not needed here. This is like scratching down a recipe on a notecard to keep in a recipes box. But Lifebook makes it better by allowing Anna to add photos, video, or voice notes.
Share screen
Where Anna generates an alphanumeric code or a QR code to share with Polly and Maggie.
It is essential that Anna be reminded on this screen that people cannot search for her account like they would be able to do on a social-media platform. Anna owns everything in her Lifebook. When she shares it, no one else can add, edit, or delete.