PocketWorld
Crafting a system for the capturing and revisiting of day-to-day memories to elicit feelings of gratitude.
In the digital age, capturing and revisiting memories has become effortless. However, this convenience often comes at the expense of the intentionality that once accompanied analog methods. While technology has enhanced the quality of our records, the sheer volume of captured moments, sometimes in pursuit of the "perfect shot" can dilute the moment and our reflection. On the other hand ironically, with a camera always in our pocket, we often overlook the more mundane moments—those we might find most meaningful in the future.
In the digital age, capturing and revisiting memories has become effortless. However, this convenience often comes at the expense of the intentionality that once accompanied analog methods. While technology has enhanced the quality of our records, the sheer volume of captured moments, sometimes in pursuit of the "perfect shot" can dilute the moment and our reflection. On the other hand ironically, with a camera always in our pocket, we often overlook the more mundane moments—those we might find most meaningful in the future.
This project was all about thinking about the left side of the double dimond— not simply designing a solution, but really understanding what the problem is and it’s nuances.
(Parts of this project are in progress!)
(Parts of this project are in progress!)
Personal reflections
This project began with reflections on the differences in memory keeping between my parents, and myself when going through old family albums.
My mom talked about how she would decide how many of the 36 photos on a film roll we would spend on each thing.
She was so intentional with how and when she took photos and recalled the specific contexts of each moment so vividly. Each was thoughtful and intentional, but there also was a lot more every-day activities. This drove my interest in studying why and how we capture moments and how different tools lead us to reflect in different ways.
Big questions
Here are some of the initial questions that arose I wanted to understand better.
Interview and desk research
Through talking to people and reading various articles/ reddit posts/ watching videos, I identified 4 primary aspects of the memory capturing and revisiting process that were particularly influencial.
Take a look at the full document here ︎︎︎
How these findings translate
1. Audio can be extemely sentimental, and a direct way to take someone back to a moment. Voices are particularly powerful. Audio paired with visual would be an ideal choice for my device. This led to the choice to capature mini 5 second video snippets.
2. Flexibility in the system. Firm guidelines such as ‘a-photo-a-day’ can be extremely motivating but also catastrophic once one “falls behind”. A trip or particular event may inspire more memory capturing, and that flexibility should be present.
3. A manual process of looking back, and the encouragement to look back on multiple moments at a time was important. A visually loud method as well, where there wasn’t a risk of a photo album getting lost on a shelf of burried in an app, and rather took a presence in the home. This inspired circular display and easy to access scroll wheel.
