Family Lens
AR-Powered Family Memory App — Rice Design-a-thon 2026
TIMELINE
48-Hr Sprint
ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
4
SKILLS
Figma, Vercel, Pencil.app
OVERVEIW
Different generations often see the world through different lenses. Oftentimes, this can create barriers to understanding, collaboration, and belonging. How might design help younger and older generations learn from one another, share stories, and build meaningful relationships?
The challenge asked teams to create a solution where design sparks understanding, connection, inclusion, or shared experiences across age groups — touching on areas like communication styles, traditions, shared spaces, and everyday moments where generations feel disconnected.
PROBLEM
Families are rich with stories. A grandmother's memory of her wedding day, a father's recollection of a childhood summer, a grandfather's favourite song from his twenties — these moments exist, but they rarely get shared across generations in a meaningful way.
The barriers are subtle but real. Older generations may not be comfortable with social media. Younger generations move fast and rarely slow down to ask. And even when families do gather, the depth of conversation rarely gets beyond the surface.
The result? Memories get lost. Stories go untold. And the generational thread that binds a family together quietly frays.
**How might we make it effortless for families to share, preserve, and discover each other's stories across generational lines?**
DESIGN PROCESS
1. Wireframing
We started fast with low-fidelity wireframes in Pencil.app to map out the core user flows before touching any visual design. The key flows we prioritised were:
- Onboarding— Creating or joining a Family Circle
- AR scanning — Pointing at a photo to unlock a story
- Story recording — Attaching an audio memory to a photo
- Daily prompts — A shared question the whole family responds to
Wireframing first kept us from getting attached to aesthetics before we'd validated the flow logic. It also made handoff within the team frictionless — everyone could see the bones of the product clearly.
SOLUTION
FamilyLens is a private AR-powered storytelling app that lets families attach audio stories to physical photos — and relive them together.
Point your phone at a family photo and hear the story behind it, in the voice of the person who lived it. Capture your own memories with a tap. Discover what your parents were listening to, what your grandparents were laughing at, and what moments shaped the people you love — all within a private, intimate family circle.
The core insight: **photos are the universal entry point for family memory.** Every family has albums. Every photo has a story. FamilyLens makes that story accessible to everyone.