Gather
A photo-sharing app for reliving, reflecting, and adding to shared memories
THE CHALLENGE
When we share photos with the people we care about, we’re inviting them into a memory.
But current tools treat that invitation like a transaction: you share, they view, and the moment ends. Shared albums can be tricky to access and aren’t often revisited.
RESEARCH
User Insights
Through inteviews and online research, I identified the following issues as painpoints.
01.
Convoluted to accessUsers often want to revisit shared memories when they’re thinking about the people involved. However, most photo apps don’t let you search or sort albums by who they were shared with, making it frustrating to locate the right album.
02.
No room for ongoing dialogueReactions feel one-sided: users can like a photo, but that’s usually where the interaction ends. There’s no space for real conversation or back-and-forth around shared memories.
DESIGN ITERATIONS
Intial Explorations
I considered a feature where users could contact someone by utilizing face recognition and data from the contacts app. The idea was to connect people while they looked back at photos.
However, this concept felt like slapping the contacts app onto the photo app. I wanted to incorporate a higher communication bandwidth within my design solution as opposed to falling back on existing apps, and thus didn’t go forward with it.
However, this concept felt like slapping the contacts app onto the photo app. I wanted to incorporate a higher communication bandwidth within my design solution as opposed to falling back on existing apps, and thus didn’t go forward with it.
I also experimented with alternative photo organization methods to expand what it means to peruse photos. One iteration included a memory-based view, which only displays how often you look back at a photo, mimicking how memories grow stronger when recalled more.
However, these features felt superfluous and unfocused. Thus, they were not in the final design.
However, these features felt superfluous and unfocused. Thus, they were not in the final design.
Final Iteration
As the project evolved, I realized sharing photos isn’t just about memory preservation—it’s about eliciting reactions that build collective memory. This insight shifted my focus towards designing reactions that supplement photos.
Photos and people
Gather focuses on what and who matter most in a photo-sharing app by offering two main functions: perusing photos and engaging with the people you care about.
Dedicated, shared space
Albums are centered exclusively around people, ensuring that they can always be found. These albums offer a dedicated space for two to share and converse about shared memories.
Quick react to memories
Users can react to media through leaving likes, voice notes, or written messages. These reactions are tagged to the media, existing as catalysts and continuations of conversations on shared memories.
SOLUTION
Gather
NEXT STEPS
With more time, I would develop the sharing interaction itself and explore how to create shared group albums. Also, I’d like to try stretching the confines of the current UI, since there’s little opportunity to create albums that are just for you and not meant to be shared.
TAKEAWAYS
01.
Use the right tools at the right time.Throughout this project, I learned to balance rapid and slow prototyping tools.
Using both Figma and AfterEffects on this project taught me how to choose the right tools based on time constraints, deliverable requirements, and the desired level of fidelity.
02.
Know your design history.Without consulting design history, it’s easy to fall into the trap of designing what’s known to not work.
This became increasingly clear while working on this project. Consulting the teachings of time not only informs how to design, but also how not to design.