Project
Souvenir
Type
Design-a-thon prototype
Role
Designer
Years
2025
About
Souvenir is a social journaling app for sharing moments with close friends—no algorithms, no AI. Entries appear chronologically and resurface on key dates, with weekly recaps highlighting memories.
This project was created for the 2025 Rice Design-a-thon in collaboration with Ryan Qiu, Renee Du, and Ashley Paik, earning a finalist position among 101 teams.
For the visual design, we decided to incorporate skeuomorphic elements, referencing familiar analog items like folders and vinyl disks. This decision was driven by a combination of secondary research and intentional aesthetic choices. First, many studies indicate that non-digital objects provide a sense of familiarity and lower the learning curve of a software for older adults, while maintaining the same level in ease of use compared to flat or minimalist designs for younger adults.
Additionally, the concept of childhood brand nostalgia, or the increased likelihood of using an app or feature based on nostalgic feelings evoked by the software, has influenced us to specifically incorporate design idioms that many gen-z and late millennial users have seen in technology popular during their childhood. This includes buttons inspired by the old iPod and iPhone home buttons, UI elements with perceived indentations and extrusions, and in-app photo layouts inspired by polaroid photos. indicate that non-digital objects provide a sense of familiarity and lower the learning curve of a software for older adults, while maintaining the same level in ease of use compared to flat or minimalist designs for younger adults.
The Souvenir logo features a snow globe with a smiling person inside, symbolizing nostalgia and warmth. And usernames follow a ‘First Name Last Name’ format to highlight the human connection.
The homepage presents a chronologically ordered feed, free from algorithmic curation. Images and soundtracks are seamlessly integrated into posts, enhancing the caption's narrative.
You can quickly snap a picture in the moment to add media to your entry. A paperclip is used to “attach” the picture to your post – just like slipping a beloved photo into the pages of a scrapbook or pinning a memory to a corkboard.
To give users the power to express themselves, you can also from a selection of soundtracks to complement your entry. Soundtracks get attached via a spinning vinyl disk, another nod to the warmth of analog media.
The profile page organizes each month’s entries, media, and text into literal folders, evoking the charm of searching through a a filing cabinet. Opening a folder reveals a collection of daily entries, each one a snapshot of a moment in time. Finally, clicking on a specific day unfolds its story, letting you revisit the thoughts, images, and sounds that made it special.
It’s a beautifully tangible way to retrace your steps, immersing yourself in past memories as if flipping through the pages of a personal archive.