Designers
Designers
Designers
OurStory
Encouraging empathy, dialogue, and early cultural identity development through shared storytelling
Key Words
Designers
Bella Corbin
SUMMARY
In many immigrant families, love is expressed through guidance, reminders, and sacrifice. It’s a cultural love language that isn’t often recognized in Western contexts—and yet, it defines so many of our relationships. What if there was a way we could surface the subconscious ways we express love, decoding hidden love languages for children of intergenerational immigrant families? OurStory is a service that turns the subtle, often unspoken ways families show love into a personalized storybook, helping children see and understand the care behind their family’s cultural modes of communication.
challenge
In my own experience of growing up in an immigrant family and speaking with other stakeholders, we could relate to this disconnect between how family members were delivering meaning versus how intent was interpreted and perceived. Parents act out of cultural values like collectivism, respect, and duty—while children raised in Western contexts interpret those behaviors through a more individual lens. The result? Misunderstandings that are emotional, not just linguistic. My research has revealed that these disconnects have an immense power in framing modes of communication and relationship building, especially in early-childhood development.
Outcome
After exploring my own lived experiences, speaking with stakeholders, reviewing existing research, mapping emotional journeys, and testing early prototypes, The project became a customizable children’s book service that transforms a family’s cultural ways of showing love into a personalized story. This outcome directly addresses the need for tools that help immigrant families bridge cultural communication gaps. By guiding families through reflective prompts and generating a story children can understand, the intervention fills a market gap for early-childhood resources that foster empathy, identity, and cross-cultural connection.
MEET THE Designers:
Bella Corbin