Senior Designer / Warner Bros-backed startupDesigning the app, branding, digital experience for the EdTech,
mission-led Childrens Spy Agency.
Bright Little Labs is a kids' media company, backed by Warner Bros. Discovery and Bethnal Green Ventures. The main focus is to create stories to teach 21st century digital skills, like computer science, coding and critical thinking to all children.
I was a member of the founding team for Bright Little Labs, i was fully involved in concept to creation of all IP’s leading the design across digital and print products.
Concepts & Storytelling
To ensure brand and story continuity across all products the process was very collaborative, working with copy writers, the author (Sophie Deen), game designers and STEM professionals to ensure we were creating educational content.
Wireframes
I worked closely with our UX designer to create wireframes which would allow us to clearly play back the user experience to stakeholders.
Testing
Testing the designs with children is a very sensitive area. With the support of existing customers we would regularly send out surveys for usability and design feedback.
UI design
I worked on applying the Children’s Spy Agency look and feel to the app, adding in fun elements and animations to bring the design to life.
Gamification
When kids open the app, they are encouraged to complete training games to gain skill badges and move up the different ranks of the agency, ‘Elite’ being the top. These skill badges exist in the digital and physical world, with users having the opportunity to buy them as stickers or be rewarded them at KidZania.
It was important to ensure the gamification seamlessly intertwined with the spy world narrative and other CSA touch points.
Educational features
Working closely with educators and game developers, we created various features which teach kids STEM skills that align to the National Curriculum, but in a fun engaging way.
As a team, we would have idea sessions where would come up with lots of features on how to approach the learning. We would then test them on our database of users to ensure our decision making wasn’t based on assumptions.
These screens show ‘Hack Mode’, where you can ‘hack’ the app and recode the colour of buttons, background images etc.
Delightful Interactions
To keep kids entertained we added various easter eggs through out the app.
We found these interactions to be very successful. The ‘DO NOT PRESS’ button had the highest click rate on the app. When pressed, it would make silly noises and release spinning emojies across the screen - highly addictive!
“Lucy is an outstanding designer who worked with Bright Little Labs from 2018 to 2021. Lucy worked across all aspects of the business - from product (including print, digital games and interactive experiences), e-commerce, marketing and commercial work on our pitch decks.
Her talent, initiative and eye for detail is exceptional. As well as hiring and managing other designers, Lucy was an integral part of our product team and leadership, always going above and beyond to get things done and helping colleagues out whenever they needed. Lucy developed our brands from the ground up, brought our products to life, and is a pleasure to work with.
I could not recommend her more highly.”
Sophie Deen, Founder of Warner Bros-backed startup, Bright Little Labs