As Co-Founder and Head of Design & Art Production at Kid Awesome, I helped transform an idea into an award-winning educational brand that combined storytelling, interactive learning, and playful design for young children.
Unlike my previous leadership roles directing established entertainment franchises, Kid Awesome required building every aspect of the brand from scratch. From product vision and visual identity to UX, content development, and production, I helped shape a cohesive experience that could engage children while earning the trust of parents, educators, and platform partners.
The result was an educational platform that reached more than 150,000 downloads on iTunes, secured distribution through Amazon Kids+ and Samsung Kids, earned the Children's Technology Review Editor's Choice Award, and received recognition from Parenting magazine.
The Challenge
Launching a new children's brand presents a unique challenge: Parents have countless educational apps to choose from, while children quickly lose interest in experiences that feel instructional rather than playful.
Our goal was to create a product that children genuinely wanted to spend time with while delivering meaningful educational value and establishing a recognizable brand capable of growing beyond a single application.
Building that trust required thoughtful design, consistent creative direction, and close collaboration across product, content, and technology.
My Role
Co-Founder / Head of Design & Art Production
As a founding member of the company, I helped shape both the creative vision and day-to-day execution of the business.
My responsibilities included:
- Defining the visual identity and creative direction
- Leading product design and UX
- Directing illustration, animation, and interactive design
- Establishing production pipelines and creative workflows
- Collaborating with engineering and educational content teams
- Developing scalable design systems for future products
- Ensuring a cohesive brand experience across every customer touchpoint
Creating a Brand, Not Just an App
From the beginning, we approached Kid Awesome as a long-term brand rather than a single software product.
Every creative decision - from character design and interface language to color palettes, animation, and interaction design - was intended to reinforce a consistent personality that children could recognize and parents could trust.
This holistic approach allowed the experience to feel cohesive while creating a foundation for future products and partnerships.
Designing for Two Audiences
One of the unique challenges of children's products is balancing the needs of two very different users: children, and their parents.
Children expect playful, intuitive experiences that reward exploration and imagination.
Parents, meanwhile, evaluate educational value, usability, and safety before deciding whether a product deserves a place in their family's routine.
Throughout development, I focused on creating experiences that delighted children while communicating quality, clarity, and trust to the adults making purchasing decisions.
Building for Growth
As a startup, every design decision carried business implications.
Rather than creating isolated assets, we developed reusable design systems, production processes, and visual standards that allowed the team to iterate quickly while maintaining consistency across products and marketing materials.
This scalable approach helped position Kid Awesome for strategic partnerships with major children's platforms as the company expanded its reach.
Results
- Co-founded an award-winning educational technology company
- Helped build a new consumer brand from concept through launch
- Achieved more than 150,000 downloads
- Secured distribution through Amazon Kids+, Fingerprint and Samsung Kids
- Received the Children's Technology Review Editor's Choice Award
- Featured in Parenting magazine
- Established scalable creative systems supporting future product growth
Executive Takeaway
Building a company from the ground up taught me that the most important role of a creative leader is creating clarity before creating content.
When there are no established brands, processes, or expectations to guide decisions, every choice helps define the identity of the product and the organization behind it. Success depends on articulating a clear vision, aligning people around it, and making lots of small creative decisions that consistently reinforce that vision.
I've found that the same principle applies whether launching a startup or leading an established global brand: creative excellence begins with a shared understanding of what you're trying to build and why it matters.
