Family history and memorial services · 2026
Talking Ancestors
We built two connected tools for Talking Ancestors: one for families to preserve and explore ancestor stories, and one for funeral homes to create interactive memorial experiences.
- Client
- Talking Ancestors
- Disciplines
- strategy, software
The situation
Talking Ancestors needed to make family history more personal and more participatory. Families had photographs, memories, and stories spread across generations, but no shared place to bring those pieces together and ask questions of the people they came from.
The opportunity extended into memorial services. Funeral homes needed a way to create a respectful digital experience around a service, invite family members to contribute, and give the deceased a voice within the provider's own website experience.
These were different workflows with a common requirement: the technology had to keep the person and their story at the center. Families needed an approachable way to contribute. Funeral homes needed a structured case workflow that could gather the right material before a service.
What we did
We created two focused tools for Talking Ancestors, each shaped around the people using it and the moment in which they would use it.
Family storytelling tool
The family experience gives relatives a shared place to build a richer account of their family history. A family member can create a story, upload photographs of ancestors, and then talk with an interactive version of that ancestor to learn more about the life and history represented in the family archive.
The experience supports:
- creating and organizing ancestor stories
- uploading photographs and family materials
- exploring a family history through conversation
- giving family members a more active way to learn from what has been preserved
The product turns an archive into an experience that can be visited, discussed, and passed between generations.
Funeral home tool
The second tool is designed for funeral homes and memorial-service providers. A provider creates a case on its website and invites family members to contribute to the memorial experience.
Family members can use the case to:
- create a script for the service
- upload a photograph of the deceased
- record a voice sample
The tool then uses those contributions to create a talking avatar that can read the family-approved script as part of the funeral service provider's website experience. The case structure gives the provider a clear workflow for gathering material while keeping the family involved in shaping the result.
The outcome
Talking Ancestors became a product with two distinct entry points and one clear purpose: helping people preserve, explore, and share the stories of those who came before them.
Families gained a more engaging way to collect memories and learn about their history. Funeral homes gained a structured way to invite contributions and create a talking memorial experience as part of their own digital presence. The two tools extended the idea of a family archive into something people could actively encounter together.
You can explore the work at talkingancestors.ai.