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Ancestry Collaboration Suite
Drove measurable impact across features: boosted tree invites by 10% through a transparent collaboration log, increased engagement by 15% with group messaging, and raised sharing by 14% while extending monthly active use from 2 to 3 days through family groups.
Work
Timeline
July 2022 -
June 2023
Role
Product designer
Concept
Ancestry helped millions connect with their past—but back in 2022, it wasn’t helping them connect with each other on the platform. It was a Solo activity
"Family history isn’t a solo pursuit — I want to do this with my family"
36%
Users joined to connect with relatives
38%
Users wanted to share their discoveries
19%
Exhausted the platform and ran out of things to do
Ancestry was designed as a research tool, not a collaborative space.
Collaboration happened off-platform via Facebook, text, or calls.
To transform family history from a solo research task into a shared, connected experience—where families build, discover, and engage together.
Multi-user engagement drives richer trees, stronger emotional ties, higher retention, and organic growth through family invites.
What Success Looks Like:
-
A grandmother inviting her kids to help build the family tree
-
Cousins messaging each other about discoveries
-
Families returning—not just for new hints, but new memories
I was one of two designers on a cross-functional team of 6 engineers, 2 PMs, and 1 content strategist.
We created 3 pillars to promote collaboration and E2E sharing across the platform
1
Family Tree Collaboration Log
Build family trees together with more transparency and shared access.
2
Group Messaging and E2E Share
Communicate with relatives, friends directly within Ancestry.
3
Family Circles (Groups)
A new way for families to stay connected and collaborate more easily within the platform.
1
Family Groups
A new way for families to stay connected and collaborate more easily within the platform.
Problem
Helping families connect and collaborate—seamlessly, all within the platform.
- Users had no central place to organize and collaborate with multiple family members.
- Collaboration was limited to individual invites, creating fragmented communication.
- There was a need for a persistent, shared space that felt like “our family” working together—not just isolated users.
"I want a space where my whole family can be involved—not just one person at a time."
Family Groups made Ancestry more family-first by enabling users to create flexible, emotionally meaningful networks beyond the tree, reusable across collaborative features.
Create/Define Family circles
Give users multiple intuitive ways to start a Family Circle - whether from messages, the tree, tagged photos, or from scratch - so it feels natural no matter where they begin.
Family circles home page
A central home for the group - with shared activity, pinned historical artifacts, and assigned tasks all in one place.
Family Circle properties
Each Family Circle included a name, list of invited members, shared tree access, and activity context designed to feel like a persistent space for ongoing collaboration.
Family Circles as shortcuts
Family Circles acted as a shortcut to re-engage with relatives—letting users quickly access shared trees, messages, and recent activity within their group.
+4% Increase subscription retention and drove 400k user adoption in the first month
2
Family Tree Collaboration
Empowering users to collaborate without fear of losing control
Problem
The Family tree is the central experience of Ancestry family history subscription.Users were hesitant to invite others to their trees because they had no visibility into what changes were being made and no way to fix mistakes. Collaboration felt risky, irreversible, and deeply personal.
"I made a mistake and realized it later — but I had no way to see what I did or go back."
Introduced an audit log, tree edit permission and version control for the family tree—showing what was changed, when, and by whom. This gave users visibility into edits, reduced fear of collaboration, and built trust among contributors.
------ Design Exploration
Entry points for tree collaboration log
Tree and notification entry points ensured that the log was discoverable, contextual, and easy to access
Autofocus content + detailed content
Tree collaboration log opened in a side panel with the most recent change auto-focused
Tree collaboration log on other pages
A collaboration log was also accessible from key pages like the main tree view and person profiles
+10% more tree invites — built trust through visibility into who changed what
2x more edits on trees with multiple contributor vs solo trees
3x more rich media (photo, stories, comment) added to collaborative trees
3
Group messaging
A new way for families to stay connected and collaborate more easily within Ancestry
Problem
Only 3% MAU were using 1-on-1 Ancestry messaging --- this showed how limited families interaction, there was no group messaging feature on Ancestry which is why users turned to platforms like Facebook when collaborating with multiple relatives. They were unable to :
- Start a shared conversation tied to a tree, person, or discovery
- Discuss research across multiple people without repeating themselves
- Keep all feedback, memories, or questions in one place
We introduced Group Messaging to support multi-person conversations—allowing users to start shared threads, stay organized, and collaborate with family members directly within Ancestry.
------ Design Exploration
Option 1
Record viewer
Share modal
Message center
Member search
Message center
Message center
Option 2
Record viewer
Share modal
Share via Ancestry msg center
Add message
Send to others
one at a time
Option 3
Record viewer
Share modal
Share via Ancestry msg center
Send to others
one at a time
Add message
Add message
Group Messaging +15% engagement — made it easier to talk, share finds, and stay connected
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