How can we help young people express their feelings? The challenge is to create a design, which communicates the difficult topic “death” – while giving hope at the same time.

ARD, Germany’s biggest broadcasting group, organised a theme week. Hamburg Leuchtfeuer also took part. It is a charitable organisation that supports people who have not got long to live and helps the bereaved work through their grief.

Sky of Memories – the first smartphone app that turns the sky into a boundless commemorative plaque. With augmented reality, anyone can write a message in the heavens – in memory of loved ones who have left us.

When people think about “death”, we noticed they look in the heaven. So we used the sky as the main design element. The crosses are symbols of messages already posted in the sky. They give hope and freedom. So we made them colourful.

The overall and usability-design is very pure. The design made it easier to deal with the topic “Living with death”.

With over 10,000 downloads within the first four weeks and countless messages, Sky of Memories has become the world’s largest commemorative plaque.