Story Shell: the participatory design of a bespoke digital memorial

This paper describes the participatory process involved in designing a bespoke, tangible, digital memorial – Story Shell - with a bereaved parent. We drew on an emergent framework for digital memorials in considering who should author and experience the memorial, what content should be included, what form the memorial should take, and what message it was intended to convey. A key finding was that the participatory design process itself served as a memorial, by presenting opportunities for the participant to share detailed memories of their loved one. Reflections on the process deliver insights for makers and analysts on how to work in sensitive design spaces, where there is a need to consider not only an object’s form but also its situation within a delicate social context.