OurStory
OurStory.com

OurStory approached us with a slightly different approach to Blogging. Help people truly chronicle their life story. Organize it, share it with a group or groups and then develop a system that can actually stimulate writing more. Of course, include video, imagery, audio, and oh yeah — a push-button printed book of any segment of your story to share with friends and family.
Web Site
http://www.ourstory.com

Year Built: 2005
Project duration: 6 months
Zaudhaus role: Interface Concepts, User-Model, Interface Design, HTML, Visual design

Services
User-Interaction & Visual Design

Industries
Media & Entertainment
STATS
RELATED
CHALLENGE + SOLUTION
The Challenge: We needed to create a system that would feel as easy to understand as a blog, yet still different from a Blogging network - something more group-centric. Still, with everything a buzz on the NET with Blogs and mini-blogs (i.e. Twitter), we wanted to emphasize the parts of OurStory that made it uniuqe. The fact that everything you wrote was automatically visualized on a timeline was a pretty cool feature, so that rose to the top. The other big idea was to create a way to encourage writing - i.e. a muse that could be ever-present and able to encourage writing about different topics.

Our finished solution emphasizes simplicity in layout and an emphasis on prioritized areas of information like the timeline. Interaction is minimal with only the fewest of choices in general. Launched with a bang, the service continues to gain momentum.
“Zaudhaus was very accommodating to our input...worked under great time pressure...giving us the framework to launch on time.”
- Chris Lunt, VP Engineering