The idea for Memory Lane came from thinking about how different life in America is today compared to the past. But this isn't unique to my generation. The world my parents grew up in was vastly different from their parents' world. That cycle continues no matter how far back you go.
This isn't surprising to anyone. Of course things change. But I wanted to build something that visualized how they changed, not just told you about it.
I've always been a fan of history. My political science degree probably gave that away. I also love museums, especially places like the Smithsonian, because they make learning fun. I'm a firm believer that if you capture someone's attention in a unique way, the impact is far more profound than reading text from a book.
So I set out to build a fully interactive, immersive experience. A virtual museum you could actually explore.
Deciding Where to Start
The first technical decision was which decades to cover. I landed on the 1950s through the present for a few reasons:
Why not earlier? Go too far back and it stops feeling like a different world. It feels like a different universe. Data and metrics from too long ago don't hold much weight when comparing to today.
Why not the 1940s? World War II. The scope of America's involvement in the war makes that decade impossible to compare fairly to peacetime decades. Life during WWII deserves its own dedicated project.
So: 1950s through 2020s. Eight decades of American life.
Structuring the Data
I needed to decide what data to include across all decades, and what would be unique to each.
Since I wanted users to compare decades, consistent formatting was critical. The same categories needed to exist for every era. I wanted to paint a picture of economic change in a way everyday people could understand. Not just raw numbers.
Core data for every decade:
- Minimum wage vs. cost of goods (leading to "hours of work to afford X" comparisons)
- Median income, home prices, rent
- Average age at marriage, first child, moving out
- Common jobs vs. dream jobs
- Popular cars, movies, music, technology
- Major political events and leadership
This would be the backbone of the entire site. Same structure, different data, for each decade.
The "Exhibits"
Beyond the core data, each decade needed unique interactive exhibits based on the defining moments of that era:
- 1950s: Post-war optimism, Korean War, rise of television
- 1960s: Civil rights, Vietnam, the Moon landing
- 1970s: Watergate, disco, stagflation
- 1980s: Reagan era, MTV, the Berlin Wall falling
- 1990s: The internet boom, Y2K anxiety
- 2000s: 9/11, the financial crisis, social media's rise
- 2010s: Smartphones everywhere, streaming culture
- 2020s: Pandemic, AI explosion, economic uncertainty
These exhibits ensure the experience isn't just a spreadsheet. You could technically fit all this data on a single printable page, but that would miss the entire point.
Designing the Experience
The Lobby
If this was going to be a real virtual museum, users needed a way to enter any exhibit from the start. What if someone only wanted to see the 1980s? I wasn't going to make them scroll through everything to get there.
A dropdown could have solved this, but I was trying to create an experience. Something fun and whimsical. I landed on decade-themed doors, almost like Monsters Inc. They float on the screen, and when you hover, they crack open. Users can jump anywhere instantly.
I also added a sticky navigation bar so users could return to the lobby or jump between decades at any time.
Decade-Specific UI
One static theme wouldn't accomplish what I wanted. Each decade needed its own visual identity. Something that immediately told you where you were:
- 1950s: Diner aesthetic, jukeboxes, newspaper layouts
- 1960s: NASA mission logs, psychedelic elements, protest imagery
- 1970s: Groovy typography, Watergate case files, disco vibes
- 1980s: Arcade aesthetic, neon, MTV styling
- 1990s: Windows 98 interface, dial-up modems, early web aesthetic
- 2000s: Early social media UI, iPod imagery
- 2010s: Mobile-first, Instagram-style feeds
- 2020s: Modern dark mode, streaming interfaces
This was the most fun part of the project. Each decade became its own design challenge.
Interactive Elements
The final layer was interactivity. Things that make learning feel like play:
- Click a 1950s TV and watch it turn on to show popular shows
- Launch a rocket and track it to the moon
- Experience dial-up connecting
- Scroll through an iPod click wheel
The more fun it is, the more people engage, the more they learn.
Where It Stands Today
I built the 1950s first to establish the vision, then replicated the structure across all eight decades. But I quickly realized the scope was massive for one person.
What's done:
- All eight decades have content and unique UI themes
- Core economic data across all eras
- Interactive lobby with decade doors
- Navigation system
What's still needed:
- Fix missing images and broken sections in some decades
- Address readability issues and bugs
- Build out the "Compare Decades" feature, a final section where users see exactly how much things have changed with real graphs and insights
- Fact-check all data and add proper citations
This is a passion project I work on when I have time. It's not finished, but it's far enough along to demonstrate the vision, and I have a clear roadmap for what comes next.
What I Learned
Building Memory Lane taught me how to scope a large project, maintain consistency across complex data structures, and design for engagement rather than just information delivery. It reinforced my belief that the best way to teach is to make people want to explore.
The compare decades feature is next. When it's done, users will see the full picture. Not just individual snapshots, but the arc of American life across 70+ years, visualized in a way that actually means something.