Mobile Design
Memori
Designed in 48 hours during UCI’s 2025 Design-a-thon, Memori is a calming, voice-guided mobile app that supports individuals with dementia in navigating daily routines, recognizing familiar faces, and finding emotional grounding. Designed for clarity and reassurance, Memori addresses a gap in tech accessibility for those with cognitive decline. It’s more than an app—it’s a companion built to restore autonomy, reduce caregiver stress, and bring back emotional connection.
Timeline
April 2025
Tools
Figma
Role
UI/UX Design
Memori Reinvents Caregiving
Our task was to create a solution for navigating uncertainty in evolving tech spaces. We chose to focus on elderly care, particularly people living with dementia, who are often excluded by today’s overstimulating and complex digital systems.
Memori was born out of a deeply personal place. My grandfather lived with Alzheimer’s in Indonesia while my family and I were in the U.S., and the physical distance made it incredibly difficult to stay connected or support him through his decline. That feeling of helplessness—and the desire to be present, even from afar—inspired the vision for this app.
Memori is a gentle, voice-guided mobile companion designed to support individuals with dementia in navigating daily life. Instead of relying on text-heavy, icon-filled interfaces, Memori uses step-by-step guidance, familiar visuals, and voice interaction to reduce confusion and bring emotional clarity. Whether it’s a reminder to brush their teeth or a comforting voice message from a loved one, each feature was designed to help users feel grounded, seen, and safe.
Memori also offers features for caregivers and family members—providing them with tools to customize routines, check in remotely, and stay informed through AI-powered insights. At its core, Memori reimagines how people with cognitive decline interface with technology—by making it more human, more intuitive, and more inclusive.
Prompt: Reimagining How We Interface with the World
Technology isn’t accessible to everyone
The problem with today’s digital tools is that they’re overwhelming, especially for people with cognitive decline. Apps are cluttered with text, icons, and multitasking—things that become barriers rather than helpers. People with dementia are often left behind by tech that wasn’t built for them in the first place.
Soooo we thought..... what if we could change that?
Self-service challenge
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A voice-guided app that helps people with dementia navigate daily life independently.
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A tool that gently supports memory, recognition, and routine, but without needing constant caregiver assistance
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Easy-to-use app companion designed for those who can’t rely on traditional apps or interfaces.
Aimed at those with cognitive decline and their loved ones
During our discovery phase we wanted to solidify who our target users were:
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People living with dementia or early Alzheimer’s
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Family members seeking connection and reassurance
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In-home caregivers who need oversight tools (we referenced color theory, user behavior, and dementia care best practices in our design process)
Research Insights
Since we only had a limited amount of time to conduct our research and limited access to real patients, we resorted to secondary research in terms of articles and papers that studied the lives and effects of our target users, as well as gaining a deeper perspective from the eyes of caregivers. In this case, we came across some key insights:
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Many apps rely heavily on text, multitasking, and small icons, which were barriers for users with cognitive decline.
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Color therapy can ease anxiety or guide attention (eg. lime green for action buttons or purple for caregivers’ clothing)
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Simple voice prompts and large, calm visuals improve user orientation and reduce stress.
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Disorientation and confusion often peak during transitions or at night, requiring emotional reassurance tools.
Armed with this information, we can now begin creating a design that was effective yet simple to use.
Targeting Patients + Caregivers
Created personas based on our research. From our research, we chose to focus primarily on the patient (Mary) and caregiver (Jimmy) persona.
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Steps To Make Memori A Reality
Once we had our main steps, we jumped into creating low fidelity wireframes for a general idea on how we could create this intuitive experience. We knew from the start that we wanted a few key features:
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Familiar faces (flashcard-style facial recognition)
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Emergency “I FEEL LOST” button
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Voice recording prompts from caregiver to patient
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Customizable patient routines
Wireframes
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DESIGN DECISIONS:
Color Choice: ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
We used lime green as the primary accent color because it's both attention-grabbing and calming—striking the right balance for users who may struggle with overstimulation. According to dementia research, green is the last color patients lose the ability to recognize, making it an ideal visual guide. Lime green elements gently draw attention to important actions while evoking a sense of comfort and clarity.
Interface Flow: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Each screen is intentionally kept minimal, showing only one task at a time with no back buttons. This reduces visual clutter and complexity, guiding users through a clear, linear routine that reinforces memory and minimizes confusion. The goal is to help users form and maintain predictable patterns that promote a sense of autonomy and success.
Home Screen Widget for Immediate Access: —————————————————————————————————————————
We also addressed a key question raised during ideation: "If someone struggles to remember simple steps, how will they even remember to open the app?" To combat this, we integrated a lock screen widget that provides immediate access to the day’s first routine task. This ensures that Memori is the first thing they see, reducing the mental load of finding and launching the app, and encouraging daily consistency.
Motivational Features – Points System: ————————————————————————————————————————————
We also introduced a points-based incentive system to help motivate users to complete their daily routines. As dementia progresses, cognitive function often regresses to resemble that of a child’s brain—so we drew inspiration from gamification systems used in educational and child-focused apps. Completing routine tasks earns points, while optional “bonus activities”—like creative exercises or physical movement—award double points.
These bonus tasks are grounded in research showing that both physical and creative activities can help stimulate the brain and slow cognitive decline. By rewarding engagement with meaningful tasks, we aim to support not just memory and function, but also emotional wellbeing and joy.
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Features by User Mode
Patient Mode:
We made several key design decisions in patient mode to create an experience that is not only accessible, but also emotionally supportive and cognitively engaging for users with dementia.
Some Key Features:
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Familiar Faces (photo, name, relationship, voice message)
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“Today’s Checklist” guided routine + Bonus Activities
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Emergency "I feel lost" button with caregiver contact + calming feedback
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Caregiver Mode:
We focused on building tools that not only offer practical oversight, but also emotional reassurance. Caregivers often face the stress of being physically distant or unable to check in on their loved ones consistently—something I experienced firsthand when my grandfather lived with Alzheimer’s in Indonesia, while my family and I were here in the U.S. That distance, and the helplessness that came with it, became the inspiration for this app.
DESIGN DECISIONS:
Color Choice: ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
We chose purple as the signature color for caregiver mode. Purple is traditionally associated with royalty, wisdom, and dignity, but more importantly, it’s a color frequently recommended for caregivers. It symbolizes value and compassion—two qualities essential in caregiving—and brings a sense of trust and calm to the interface.
Interaction Design: ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
While the features in this mode are more robust, we maintained a clean and intuitive layout to make it easy for caregivers—who may be juggling multiple responsibilities—to access what they need quickly. Caregivers can:
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Customize routines for the patient
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Send recorded voice messages
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View activity logs to monitor task completion
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Receive alerts when the emergency "I feel lost" button is triggered
These features aim to bridge the gap between caregivers and patients by enabling remote connection and oversight, reducing the uncertainty that often comes with being apart.
AI-Powered Insights: ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
The Analytics Dashboard provides caregivers with helpful AI-driven feedback—showing which tasks were completed, when, and offering weekly summaries, trends, and potential red flags in behavior. These insights help caregivers better understand the patient's habits and adapt care routines proactively. It’s not just about data—it’s about empowering caregivers to provide more personalized, responsive support.
This mode reflects our belief that caregiving should feel supported, not isolating—and that the right tools can offer peace of mind, even across oceans.
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Reflection
We set out to build something simple and human—and that intention grounded every design decision we made. Memori helped us learn how to balance emotional impact with functionality, and showed us that inclusive design can bring dignity to overlooked users.
What's Next?
If given more time, we’d love to:
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Implement voice interaction prototypes
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Integrate data sharing with wearable tech
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Test with real caregivers or patients for feedback
Fun Fact!
The design was inspired by our desire to bring comfort, warmth, and a little bit of playfulness to a serious topic. One of our team members (me!) is a matcha-loving, sea otter-obsessed craft lover—and we believe that empathy and softness should have a place in how we build tech, too.
Want to offer feedback? Feel free to reach out to me at jatjia07@gmail.com 😊