Calmer visits, stronger connections
A React Native app, powered by AI and a bespoke graph system, enabling meaningful shared moments.
Built around real needs
Academic dementia research and real user insight helped shape a collaborative, tablet-first experience.
Idea to investment-ready
Through the Impact Builder, we delivered a fully funded, scalable product that's now live in the App Store.
ReelLife Conversations joined us through the Impact Builder programme with a deeply personal mission.
Louise Callin, Co-Founder & CEO, had spent five years watching her mum's cognitive decline due to dementia. Visits were becoming increasingly stressful, she struggled to know how to interact, and often planned activities in advance just to have something to do together. Through these visits, Louise discovered that family photos helped spark conversation and interaction, creating moments where her mum seemed calmer and more at peace. But there were challenges... Sometimes they'd get stuck on a photo, unable to move forward due to her mum’s lack of recognition. And that’s what brought her to us.
With a vision to make those moments richer and easier, not just for Louise and her mum, but for anyone navigating this difficult condition, ReelLife needed to focus on what would provide the most value soonest: validating the concept with real users and securing funding.
ReelLife needed to build something entirely new: a tablet app that could spark reminiscence without placing demands on memory recall. Existing solutions weren't addressing the daily challenges carers and family members face when trying to spark meaningful conversations, so they needed a different approach.
The app needed to work on tablets as a minimum, given the user groups and the importance of screen size for accessibility and shared viewing. Whilst behind the scenes, an AI model would connect familiar photos and intelligently suggest conversation topics based on people, places, objects, and times depicted.
This was a 0-to-1 project that required both technical innovation and deep sensitivity. The goal wasn't just to build a product, it was to reduce stress and promote genuine interactions that help guide conversations without fear of failure.
As ReelLife is local to Brighton, we were able to collaborate in-person throughout the project which proved invaluable given the sensitivities and complex needs of the end users. Alongside this, ReelLife introduced us to Dr Phil Joddrell, a dementia researcher at Dementia UK and the University of Sheffield's Centre for Assistive Technology and Connected Healthcare, whose expertise helped us learn dementia-specific design principles and best practices for physical, visual, and digital design.
We applied foundational accessibility principles throughout the product:
This wasn't about building features, it was about designing moments of connection that felt safe and natural, without mentioning dementia once.
In order to demonstrate how AI graphing technology could connect dots between images to identify people, locations, and content we started with a PoC (Proof of Concept). The challenge was making these connections meaningful for those navigating cognitive decline, without creating frustration or dead ends. With the PoC validating the approach, we moved into full development, building out the complete user experience around this foundation.
The design process ran in parallel with AI integration discussions, ensuring the technology could deliver the support needed. We moved through workshops, wireframes, and high-fidelity prototyping, testing every feature against accessibility and cognitive guidelines established with Dr Joddrell. If something didn't meet the standards, it went back to refinement.
This wasn't designed to be a solo-user product. It needed to be a collaborative experience between the person living with dementia and their carer or family member, bringing people together rather than isolating them. And it’s with every design decision that this dual experience was kept in mind.
With the core product taking shape, our work expanded beyond the build itself. ReelLife needed a complete go-to-market foundation to secure funding and reach the families who needed it.
We ran a "gut test" with the founders, showing 10 different brand examples for just 3-5 seconds each to quickly identify what resonated emotionally. From there, we developed a brand persona (Joanna Lumley - warm, trustworthy, dignified), created brand guidelines for future scalability, and designed the logo, wordmarks, and social media templates that would carry ReelLife's identity to market.
We provided design guidance for their marketing website and delivered an investor-ready prototype with account-specific image ingestion. To support funding conversations and B2B exploration, we storyboarded and produced a marketing video to communicate their vision, and created an investor slide deck template alongside a demo version using a preexisting dataset.
Most importantly, ReelLife was able to test the product with the founder's mum, validating the approach in the exact scenario it was designed for: a daughter and mum reconnecting through prompted conversations. After their first session, Louise's mum asked to go through the experience again - a powerful indicator that it felt natural, enjoyable, and worth returning to.
Through the Impact Builder programme, we helped ReelLife Conversations secure full funding to take their offering to people who need it.
“From the first conversations with Scott and Ant, I felt that I had met the 'good people' of the investor community… I am excited to get my product into the hands of those that need it the most – and I am convinced that the ASquared team feel the same way.” - Louise Callin, Co-Founder and CEO, ReelLife Conversations
The success of the product has led to follow-on work where we've converted the React frontend into a React Native application, which is now live on the App Store. As for what's next, ReelLife's roadmap includes adapting the experience as cognitive needs evolve, expanding flows, and reaching even more families along the way.
Throughout this evolution, the core principle of ReelLife remains the same: a tool that never mentions dementia, but simply sparks conversation and connection where it matters most. We can't wait to see the difference it makes.
Let's see what we can make together.
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