A memory system that captures moments the way the brain forms them — triggered by emotion, not by conscious decision.
Role
Concept, Interaction & Product Design
Context
Master’s thesis, HfG Gmünd · with Martha Miosga
Year
2014
Award
🥇 Zukunftspreis Kommunikation
01 — STARTING POINT
In 2014, the number of photos people took exploded — and at the same time their value fell. We photographed more and remembered less. Psychology describes the effect: when we take a photo, we outsource remembering to the device.
The brain works differently. It does not store what we want to keep, but what moves us. Emotional moments are consolidated into memories; neutral ones fade.
This became the question of our master’s thesis: Can a camera system remember the way a person does? Not recording everything (lifelogging), not triggering deliberately (photography) — but capturing exactly when emotion arises.
Project
Master’s thesis, HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd — grade 1.0 (top mark)
Team & supervision
Joint project with Martha Miosga
Prof. Ralf Dringenberg · Prof. Jens Döring
Award
First place, “Privacy” category — Zukunftspreis Kommunikation (DVPT / BMWi)
Outcome
02 — RESEARCH
Before designing anything, we wanted to understand the phenomenon: cognitive science and the psychology of memory formation, dementia research, the photography market. Then we tested that knowledge against practice — six experts whose job is remembering, and a quantitative survey with 180 responses on memory cues and emotional triggers.
Research &
Discovery
Cognitive science · Psychology · Photography market
Expert
Interviews
6 experts — memory, dementia, archives, photography
Quantitative
Survey
180 responses on memory cues
Synthesis &
Affinity
6 opportunity areas · 3 theses · 8 design principles
Concept &
System
Wristband · Camera · Software · Interaction logic
Hardware
Prototyping
Rhino 3D · Form iterations · Magnetic mechanism
Software
Design
Wireframes · Iterations · Multiplatform
Seven phases — from the literature to a working interface, in one semester
Six perspectives on memory — photography, gerontology, dementia counselling, University of Tübingen, memory books, Stuttgart city archive
Synthesis — affinity mapping across literature, interviews and survey: 6 opportunity areas
Key insight
Emotion decides what stays — not intention. A memory system therefore must not ask whether to record. It has to feel when.
The synthesis produced three theses and eight design principles — among them: recording without interrupting the moment, reliving instead of managing, and full control for wearers over their own data. The privacy principle later earned the project the Zukunftspreis.
03 — CONCEPT
The answer is a system in three parts: a sensor wristband measures the physiological patterns of emotions — pulse, heart rate, skin conductance, skin temperature. When it registers a change, a wirelessly connected clip-on camera automatically records a short video. The software links everything into a memory network you can explore.
First sketches — from the idea of memory to the system concept
Sketches for the navigation concept — how do you explore a network of memories?
01 · Wristband
Sensor wearable
detects a change in emotion
02 · Camera
Clip-on camera
transfers when docked
03 · Software
Memory network
Digital forgetting
Images lose saturation over the years — forgetting becomes visible
System architecture — sensors, recording trigger and data flow into the memory network
Design decision
Three seconds of video — no more.
The recording length matches the rhythm in which the brain processes information into units of memory. Longer would be surveillance, shorter just a photo. This limit was also the most important privacy decision: MNEMO documents moments, not sequences of events. And anyone who wants to take a photo deliberately simply releases the camera from its magnetic mount — automation never replaces intent, it complements it.
04 — PRODUCT
The hardware took shape through form iterations in Rhino 3D — magnetic mechanism, material studies, wearing comfort. Four wearing options (clip, necklace, brooch, wristband) let the technology adapt to everyday life, not the other way round. A device that remembers must not draw attention to itself.
The MNEMO system — sensor wristband, magnetic clip-on camera, wearing options
Four wearing options — clip, necklace, brooch, wristband
In everyday life — the camera as jewellery, not a gadget
A wearable for everyone — twelve people, every wearing option
05 — INTERFACE
Folders and timelines organise files — but memories work by association. The software links every recording with place, time, people and emotion into a network. The question was: how do you make that network tangible without it turning into a database?
Wireframe — overview as a grid
Wireframe — sidebar & detail
Wireframe — filtered search
Iteration 1 — 6 June 2014
Iteration 2 — 11 June 2014
Iteration 3 — 18 June 2014, final
Three generations in six weeks — each iteration tested against the eight design principles
Design decision
The Hexagon Navigator: the interaction model grows out of the data model.
Six axes — place, time, person, plus joy, surprise, sadness. Instead of search forms and filter lists, users stretch a shape across the axes; its size shows at a glance how many memories the filter covers. Filtering memories by what you felt — not only by when it happened. Earlier iterations with conventional filters failed at exactly this point: they managed memories instead of letting people relive them.
Parameter axes
Place · time · person — contextual links between memories
Emotion axes
Joy · surprise · sadness — detected through pulse, skin conductance and temperature
Six axes: three parameters, three emotions — the area spanned shows how many memories pass the filter
The navigator in use — the polygon morphs through filter states
Overview — the memory archive as a photo grid
Filtered search with the Hexagon Navigator
Map view — memories in their spatial context
Multiplatform — the same network on tablet and phone
06 — RECEPTION & REFLECTION
Zukunftspreis Kommunikation 2014
First place in the “Privacy” category — awarded by the DVPT under the patronage of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
Master’s thesis, grade 1.0 (top mark)
HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd — Prof. Ralf Dringenberg, Prof. Jens Döring
Lab talk at Intuity, Stuttgart
Invited to present the thesis in a brown-bag session
Press coverage
Regional and trade press, 2014/2015
What remains
In 2014, MNEMO asked the question that is my core topic today: how much autonomy do we give systems that decide for us?
The answer back then — a system that acts automatically but can be deliberately overridden at any time — is the same design principle I apply to human-AI interaction today. What I would do differently now: test the concept earlier with working sensors on the body instead of in scenarios — whether physiological signals detect emotions reliably enough remained an open question in the prototype. What has stayed is the conviction that autonomy needs an interface — not trust in black boxes.
Next project
A journey from a planned timber tower into a digital future museum — concept work with Prof. Ralf Dringenberg, documented in presentations and screen designs.