Selected work

Case study 01

Tellings

Keep the stories behind the memories.

A private family memory app for preserving the people, stories and missing context behind family memories.

Product Design · UX/UI Mobile App · Personal Project

Animated screen preview

One memory, from unknown to known.

Seven final screens in sequence. A preview of the flow, not a working prototype.

  1. 01 Home
  2. 02 Eli's memorial
  3. 03 Unknown person
  4. 04 Ask the family
  5. 05 Perspectives
  6. 06 Update the memory
  7. 07 Yaakov Levi identified

(01) The problem

Photos survive.Context disappears.

Black and white photograph: Eli and another man talking by the harbor in Haifa

Family photographs can survive for generations. The knowledge around them is much more fragile.

  1. Who is standing next to your grandfather?
  2. Where and when was it taken?
  3. And who in the family might still know?
Design question

How might families preserve the context behind their memories before that context disappears?

(02) Product framing

More than a photo archive.

Tellings is a private space where families preserve not only media but the context around it: people, places, stories and the things nobody is quite sure about yet.

How they connect

What families preserve, they can revisit. What is missing, they can ask about. What relatives recover returns to the Memory.

How the focus evolved

The project began with a stronger focus on memorial profiles. It moved from preserving a person to preserving context, and living relatives became sources of knowledge.

(03) Product decisions

Three decisions shape the product.

  1. Decision 01

    A person does not need an account to matter.

    Many people in a family archive will never use the app: relatives who have died, a friend in an old photo. People in the archive are kept separate from people with accounts.

    Other connections: Yaakov Levi, Eli's army friend, No account
    People › ConnectionsPart of the family story, with no account.
  2. Decision 02

    Incomplete information is still worth preserving.

    Families rarely know every detail. Tellings saves what is known and labels what isn't, instead of forcing invented precision.

    Memories in list view: A little passenger, No description added; Two friends by the harbor, Someone unknown
    Memorial › List viewSaved without a description, or with someone unknown, and labelled.
  3. Decision 03

    Response does not equal resolution.

    One answer doesn't make something true. Responses stay separate from the shared Memory, and the person who asked decides what, if anything, is added.

    Answers won't close the question. When you've heard enough, you decide what to add to the memory, and when to close it.
    Question sentAnswers don't close a question on their own.

(04) Revisit

Return to people, not a feed.

Home brings people back to three things. No likes, counts or engagement loops.

  1. Memorials of people they care about
  2. Questions waiting for them
  3. Recently added memories
Tellings Home: Memorials, questions waiting for you, and recently added memories

A Memorial should feel like returning to a person.

  1. Memories, About, Connections. One person, three views. Memories lead; About and Connections add the life around them.
About tab: a short life story of Eli, written by Zvika and edited by you
AboutA short life story, written by family.
Connections tab: Family, with Naomi Shalev, wife, and Ronit Zamir Shalev, daughter
ConnectionsThe people who mattered to them.
Eli Shalev's Memorial: portrait header, the Memories, About and Connections tabs, and a gallery of memories

(05) Preserve

A memory isn't always a photo.

Photos, letters, recordings and stories share one creation structure. The questions change with the medium.

Same slots, different questions

  1. Who: “Who’s in this photo” becomes “Who’s speaking”.
  2. When: a season for a photo, an occasion for a recording.
  3. Where: optional in both.

Preserve uncertainty too.

A person can stay Unknown, a date can be Approximate, a place can wait. Gaps are saved as gaps, for the family to fill later.

New photo form: who's in this photo (Eli Shalev, and Unknown, right), title, what do you remember, when (Spring 1975, approximate) and where (add a place)
Photo
New recording form: who's speaking, and recording context (recorded by Avi Shalev, when: Passover, around 2009, where: add a place)
Recording
About this letter: From Eli Shalev, To: who received it?, Written 12 June 1958 from the date line, Written in Haifa
LetterWriter, recipient, date and place.
Story details: 2 people, Around 1961, Place
StoryPeople, a rough year, a place.

(06) Preserve at scale · Build the archive

Import first. Enrich gradually.

One memory starts from a moment you already know. A collection (an album, a shoebox, a camera roll) is saved first and understood later.

Add memory: One memory, when you know the moment you want to tell; or a whole collection, saved first with details added whenever you are ready
Add memoryTwo starting points.

Preservation shouldn't feel like data entry.

Who is here? When was this? Where was this? Everything else can wait.

4 photos found on an album page: straightened and cropped, with a handwritten caption kept
Review photosFound, straightened and cropped. Handwritten captions are kept.
Add context, photo 12 of 34: Who is here? When was this? Where was this? Each with a don't know option
Add contextOne photo at a time. Blanks stay open.
Eli's memorial, Needs context filter: 18 faces nobody has named yet, with Ask family to help
Needs contextEverything still missing, with a way to ask family. This leads to Recover

Also in the flow

Scan an album: photograph the whole page
Scan album
Import photos: 34 photos selected
Bulk import
Adjust the crop of one photo
Adjust crop
34 memories saved
Import complete

(07) Recover · The core flow

Recover

Ask the people who may still remember.

A gap in a Memory becomes a question for the right people. Their answers can enrich the Memory without the product deciding what is true.

  1. 1Unknown
  2. 2Ask
  3. 3Perspectives
  4. 4Update
  5. 5Recovered

Step 1 · Unknown

Make missing knowledge actionable.

Eli is known; the man beside him isn’t. The gap is marked on the photo and in the people list, with a way to ask.

  1. “Who is this?” on the photo
  2. Not yet identified, with Ask who this is
Memory: Two friends by the harbor. Eli is tagged; the man on the right is marked Who is this? and listed as Not yet identified, with Ask who this is

Step 2 · Ask

Ask the people who might remember.

A question can go to the whole memorial, or privately to chosen people. The audience is restated at every step.

  1. Open: everyone in Eli’s memorial can answer.
  2. Targeted: only the people you choose.
  3. Restated above the list,
  4. before sending,
  5. and after.

Privacy is shown, not configured.

Ask the family: your question, and who should see this: everyone in Eli's memorial, or only people I choose
Ask
Who would you like to ask? Only the people you select will receive and see this question. Nurit, Avi and Zvika will see this privately
Choose people
Your question is on its way. Private: only these 3 people can see it
Sent

Step 3 · Perspectives

Perspectives can disagree.

“That’s Yaakov Levi.”“It might be him.”

Both answers are kept side by side, visible only to the person who asked. Neither changes the Memory by itself.

  1. Responses: only the requester
  2. A confident answer
  3. A less certain one
  4. “Nothing changes in the memory unless you add it.”
Your question: 2 of 3 have answered. Responses, only you can see these. Zvika: That's Yaakov Levi. Nurit: I'm not completely sure, it might be him. Nothing changes in the memory unless you add it

Step 4 · Update

Decide what becomes part of the Memory.

The requester writes the update in their own words.

  1. Who he is, from existing connections
  2. How he was connected to Eli
  3. What the family will read. Responses are never copied in.
  4. Who sees it. Name, tag and note go to the memorial; responses stay private.
  5. Closing the question is optional and reversible.
Update the memory: Yaakov Levi, already in Eli's connections; connected as Eli's army friend; a note in your own words; who will see it; close the question, which can be reopened

Who sees what

The questionChosen people or the whole memorial“Only people I choose”
The responsesOnly the person who asked“Only you can see these”
The Memory updateEveryone in the memorial“Everyone in Eli’s memorial will see the name, the tag and your note.”

Step 5 · Recovered

Unknown → Known

The Recover experience does not end when a question is closed. It ends when the Memory becomes richer.

Before Eli Shalev Unknown
Before: the man on the right is marked Who is this? and Not yet identified
After Eli Shalev Yaakov Levi · Eli’s army friend
After: Yaakov Levi is tagged and identified as Eli's army friend, and what we remember now includes his story, updated by you after asking family
  1. Unknown
  2. Ask
  3. Perspectives
  4. Update
  5. Richer memory

(08) Product restraint

Less activity. More intention.

Inbox holds only what needs attention.

For you
Questions family asked you, and invitations.
Asked by you
Questions you're tracking. They stay open until you close them.

A general Updates feed was removed. Home already shows new memories; Inbox is for what needs action.

Inbox, For you: questions family asked you, and invitations
For you
Inbox, Asked by you: open questions you asked, and closed ones
Asked by you

(09) Visual language

Quiet around the memory.

A restrained interface lets family media carry the emotion.

Photography
Eli Shalev's Memorial header: a full-width portrait

Photos run edge to edge; the interface steps back.

Typography
Memory title in Newsreader, Two friends by the harbor, with date, place and memorial in Manrope

Newsreader for what the family wrote. Manrope for navigation, metadata and actions.

Color and surfaces
Nothing changes in the memory unless you add it. Close question, Update the memory
#35666A#FFF9F2#F6F7F4

One teal for actions and confirmed states, on warm and neutral surfaces.

Status
Unknown, right
Open, Private
Identified
Closed
Approximate

Amber: open or unknown. Teal: private or identified. Grey: closed or approximate.

(10) The product

At a glance.

Revisit · Preserve · Recover

Home
Eli Shalev's Memorial
Add context
Responses to a question
The recovered Memory

(11) Reflection

The most important shift was realizing that the system should not become the authority on a family's history.

Tellings can collect what relatives remember and show what is uncertain. Deciding what is true stays with the family.

What I would validate next

Open questions. None has been tested with families yet.

  1. 01 · Targeted questionsDo people understand who can see a targeted question?
  2. 02 · Conflicting answersHow do families interpret probable or conflicting identifications?
  3. 03 · Archive buildingDoes progressive enrichment reduce the burden of preserving a large collection?