MyHeritage -
From family-trees to DNA.
Two ways of uncovering who we are: first by connecting the stories families already know, then by revealing connections hidden in our DNA.
My Role
Senior Product Designer
Scope
Genealogy → DNA
Contribution
Product strategy, Design system, native mobile and Localization
Platforms
Web, Native app (iOS and Android)
01 / Genealogy & native mobile
The more you share. The more you discover.
MyHeritage helps people connect relatives, explore historical records and uncover branches of their family tree. The product turns what a family already knows into a starting point for discovering what it doesn't.
I joined as the first product designer, working across the entire web and mobile ecosystem. As the team grew, my focus moved to native mobile experiences across iOS, Android, tablet and watch.
Make family trees, relatives, historical records and new discoveries accessible through touch-first, native interactions.
I took ownership of the native mobile experience across iOS and Android, expanding the work to tablets, landscape layouts and watch applications.
Native app, not a smaller website.
Adapt multi-generation relationships and rich profile data to smaller, touch-based interfaces.
Across devices and orientations.
Designing for both phone and tablet, portrait and landscape, and glanceable watch experiences.
Localization and accessibility supporting 42 languages
Designed for localization, translation and different market needs.
Built around ongoing discovery.
Helping users return to their trees, family stories, records and new connections.
To find your family,
we first had to learn
about it.
MyHeritage already had billions of historical records and a vast collection of family trees. But a new user had to provide enough personal and family information for the matching engine to find meaningful connections. Our challenge: collect rich information early, without making registration feel like work.
Seven people.
More chances to find a match.
You, your parents and four grandparents. Those seven starting points could unlock discoveries across existing family trees and historical records, giving users a reason to keep building.
Smart Matches™
Connections with relatives in other family trees.
Record Matches
Potential links to historical documents and records.
One onboarding goal.
Three ways to get there.
I explored three approaches to collecting the same family information. Each gave users a different balance of guidance, flexibility and control. The question was which would help the most people complete registration.
One person at a time.
Automatically advance through the seven relatives, reducing the number of choices along the way.
Choose a side of the family.
Complete one parental branch before moving to the other, giving the process more explicit structure.
You decide who comes next.
Select any relative and enter their details in any order, prioritizing flexibility and user control.
A family-history ecosystem. Not just an app.
The role extended across responsive web, a full product redesign, global campaigns, localization and new ways for families to contribute. Here, the work speaks through the breadth of its surfaces.
Core genealogy product and responsive experiences.
Weave app
Inviting relatives to contribute photos and stories, so family history becomes a shared archive.
Responsive product & campaigns / Landing pages, worldwide events and supporting experiences.
03 / From genealogy to genetics
What if data could
reveal something
about you?
MyHeritage expanded from genealogical research into consumer DNA testing: a physical kit, a new product experience and a distinctive sub-brand within the existing family-history ecosystem.
The challenge shifted from helping people research who came before them to helping them discover something about themselves, and relatives they never knew existed.
Make genetic discovery feel personal, not clinical.
We needed to help establish a distinct DNA sub-brand while keeping it connected to the MyHeritage family-history world. The physical test, first digital touchpoints, ethnicity insights and relative matches all had to feel like parts of one trustworthy journey.
A distinctive new sub-brand
Creating an identity that could stand on its own while belonging to the MyHeritage family.
A physical-to-digital journey
Connecting the DNA kit and test experience to understandable results online and on mobile.
Discovery with a human outcome
Making ethnicity and genetic matches feel relevant, clear and worth exploring further.
