Lives To Tell (IOS/Android)
Internship
UI and UX Design/Motion Graphics/Prototyping/Creative Direction.
Role:
Product Designer
Timeline:
01/2025-03/2026
Software:
Figma
HTML/CSS/JS
Adobe After Effects
Team:
Wei Li
Jane Chen
Claudia Wormley
Jordan Ho
Shreyantan Chandra
Only 1 in 3 Americans has ever recorded a conversation with a parent or grandparent. Within three generations, 80% of family stories disappear. Not because families don't care, but because existing tools weren't built for seniors. Typing is tedious. Video feels awkward. Most people never start.
I designed with accessibility as the foundation, not an afterthought. Larger touch targets, high-contrast text, simplified navigation, voice-first interactions. The interface needed to work for someone who's never used a smartphone and someone helping their grandmother at the same time.
Voice prompts guide users through story capture without requiring them to think of questions. AI cleans up recordings automatically. You can start recording within seconds of opening the app.
I interviewed seniors and their adult children to understand what actually stops people from capturing stories. Seniors felt intimidated by technology but comfortable with conversation. They didn't want to feel recorded or interviewed. They wanted to feel like they were just sharing.
I also explored reminiscence therapy research and Ashton Applewhite's work on anti-ageism. This shaped the experience: gentle prompts, natural flow, technology fading into the background.
Accessibility First
Every decision filtered through one question: would my grandmother be able to use this without help?
The Hook Model
I used Nir Eyal's framework to design for return visits. The trigger is a gentle prompt. The action is speaking. The reward is hearing your story played back, polished. The investment is a growing library of memories.
Stakeholder Challenges
Some collaborators questioned whether accessibility features were necessary.
I learned to advocate by grounding decisions in research and business impact.
Seniors who can use the app independently become better users and advocates.
Animations for seniors...
Visualizing a Home for Stories
The pain points, competitor audit, and AI research were the starting nodes for branching into a variety of solutions. See some of the explorations we considered below.
A friend sends the user a rough draft of a song they're working on. The user listens to the track and decides on a specific section they want to add lyrics to. They create a loop: this part of the song plays again and again.
Draft, Copilot chatting, accessibility Copilot options
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Personalize Your Legacy (choose cover),