Microsoft - The Threat of Memory
D-Day 80th Anniversary Digital Experience
As Creative Director & UX Lead, I guided the design and execution of ‘The Thread of Memory,’ a digital twin experience developed in partnership with Microsoft, La Mission Libération, and Iconem to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. This immersive platform weaves together archival images, geospatial data, and AI-powered technologies to connect past and present, honoring veterans through an inclusive and educational experience.
mobile and desktop
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Challenges
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• In just 9 weeks, we needed to design an immersive digital immersive and narrative journey around one of the greatest events of the twentieth century.
• Leverage the newest AI technologies to bring this event to life online and provide detailed context for the images. • Make this rich content accessible to all, with multiple languages, written and auditory content, and audiences from students to researchers. |
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My Role
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As Creative Director & UX Lead, I orchestrated cross-functional collaboration, defined the UX strategy, and ensured accessibility, inclusivity, and emotional resonance in every design decision. I connected design thinking with advanced AI technologies, ensuring the final experience was both innovative and deeply human.
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Process
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• Facilitated design thinking workshops to align historians, educators, and technologists.
• Defined personas (students, educators, historians) and mapped audience journeys. • Designed a narrative-driven, multilingual platform with audio narration and responsive UI. • Designed a narrative-driven, multilingual platform with audio narration and responsive UI. • Directed visual identity inspired by Normandy’s coastlines to evoke authenticity. |
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Outcome & impact
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• Delivered a fully functional, multilingual platform in under 9 weeks.
• Reached tens of thousands of visitors within the first month of launch, spanning students, researchers, and educators across multiple countries. • Created an emotionally resonant experience that juxtaposed archival photographs with present-day geospatial data, making history accessible in powerful new ways. • Advanced Microsoft’s AI for Cultural Heritage initiative, demonstrating the ethical and purposeful use of AI to preserve collective memory. • Inspired new educational initiatives and classroom lesson plans built on the platform’s resources. |
Research & Discovery
During our two-day Design Thinking sessions, we engaged with cross functional teams to develop a deep understanding of the personas, users' needs and business goals to create a guiding vision as the foundation of the website design direction.
Day One Objectives:
To gain deeper understanding and knowledge of the user, personas, and the way they interact with “Cultural Heritage D-Day website” To collaboratively identify the most likely scenarios (situations, devices, and use patterns) to drive a successful design.n |
Dat two objectives:
To generate ideas, create workflow diagrams, by assemble rough layouts through white board sketching. To get consensus and to provide a successful User Experience that align “the Cultural Heritage D-Day website” with Business Objectives, Digital Strategy and User Goals. |
UX sketches from design workshops visualizing user flows, navigation, and interaction points. By mapping journeys across devices and contexts early, we aligned historians, educators, and technologists around a shared design vision before moving into wireframes and prototypes.
Information architecture
This sitemap illustrates how the user flow was intentionally structured to guide audiences from the homepage into regional narratives, event timelines, and before/after photo galleries. Clear pathways and modular navigation created a seamless balance between storytelling and exploration.
Wireframes
Workshop findings were incorporated into medium-fidelity wireframes that served as a high-level outline for a functional prototype/MVP, a critical step to discuss and validate the structure, navigation, content, functionality, hierarchy, and layout with team members and clients.
Design, Map of the battle
AI-powered georeferencingAdvanced AI algorithms are employed to accurately georeference the historical images, aligning them with their present-day geographical coordinates and before-and-after visualizations.
Design, The sequence of Events
Design, Arial view, the Before and after
The website utilizes cutting-edge AI technology to geographical align images, providing a unique ‘Then and Now’ perspective of the key locations involved in D-Day. Juxtaposing historical photographs with current satellite imagery creating a powerful visual representation of how these historic sites have evolved from the time of D-Day to the present.
Mobile
Presentation Video