AI-POWERED photo curation
Memento - Meaningful Photo Curation
This project was my Master’s capstone project, completed in a team of two designers and two researchers. I worked as a Product Designer, focusing on UX research, interaction design, and prototyping across the 10-week timeline. We explored how people curate and preserve meaningful photos, focusing on reducing decision fatigue through guided, event-based interactions. The outcome was a high-fidelity product concept designed to make photo organization more intentional and manageable.
Timeline
10 weeks, from Initial Research to high-fidelity prototypes and evaluation
Background
Memento explores a shift from photo storage to photo curation. As people store thousands of digital photos, organizing and revisiting meaningful moments becomes increasingly difficult. Many existing apps prioritize storage efficiency, leaving users overwhelmed by volume and unsure how to meaningfully engage with their memories. This project investigates how guided interactions and event-based grouping can reduce cognitive load and support more intentional, reflective photo curation.
This section outlines how the project progressed from early research to a validated high-fidelity concept, with each phase informing key design decisions.
Research & Planning
Conducted user interviews, literature review, and competitive analysis to understand how people currently curate photos and where existing tools fall short.
This research revealed that decision fatigue and lack of structure were the primary barriers to meaningful photo organization, directly shaping the need for guided, constrained interaction flows.
Design & Prototyping
Developed low- and high-fidelity prototypes to explore multiple curation models, including event-based grouping and guided prompts.
Iterative testing helped identify which flows reduced hesitation and cognitive load, leading to a design direction that emphasized progressive disclosure and small, reversible actions.
Development & Implementation
Built an interactive high-fidelity prototype simulating AI-assisted grouping and guided curation flows.
Design decisions prioritized clarity, minimal cognitive load, and user control, ensuring users felt supported without losing agency during the curation process.
Testing & Optimization
Conducted task-based usability testing to evaluate comprehension, confidence, and flow completion.
Findings informed refinements to navigation, labeling, and interaction feedback, improving overall usability and reducing points of friction observed during testing.
The solution is a guided photo-curation experience designed to reduce decision fatigue and help users engage more intentionally with their personal memories. Rather than asking users to organize large photo collections all at once, the experience breaks curation into small, structured steps that feel manageable and reflective.
Event-based Grouping
Photos are organized around events rather than isolated images, aligning with users’ mental models and reducing the cognitive effort required to decide where photos belong.
Guided Curation
The system presents photos in small batches paired with reflective prompts, helping users make intentional decisions without feeling overwhelmed or rushed.
Clear Interactions & Gamified Feedback
Simple voting actions and visible progress indicators provide clarity and predictability, reinforcing a sense of progress and reducing uncertainty during the curation process.
Usability testing and evaluation indicated that the guided, event-based approach helped users engage with photo curation more confidently and with less perceived effort.
Reduced Cognitive Load
Participants reported feeling less overwhelmed when photos were presented in small, event-based groups. Breaking curation into shorter, guided sessions made it easier for users to start and continue the process without hesitation.
Improved Meaningful Selection
Event grouping and reflective prompts helped users identify photos they considered personally significant, shifting focus from quantity to intentional selection rather than exhaustive organization.
Positive Usability Feedback
Most participants were able to complete core curation tasks with minimal onboarding and described the overall flow as intuitive and predictable, reinforcing confidence in their decisions.