Designing a Kid-Safe Digital Platform
The internet isn't built for kids. AI-surfaced content and untargeted ads meant children were regularly landing on videos, games, and material nobody intended them to see. Mini-Me was built to solve that — a digital hub for kids aged 4–9 bringing together games, videos, books, and educational content in one safe, curated environment.
I was brought in to handle UI, micro-animations, design system, and the core product experience — working from branding and illustrations that had already been established.
Rapid Prototyping
When the marketing team needed something to present to phone carriers, I had two days to pull together a prototype that could communicate the full product vision. The priority was getting the tone and core experience across clearly — not building everything at once.
That prototype secured the initial carrier contract. Later, with an improved and more developed version, we pitched Roku and secured a partnership there as well.
Design System
The core challenge was finding a visual language flexible enough to work across multiple sub-brands without losing coherence. The branding and illustrations were already defined — my job was building a system around them that could scale. I leaned into round, organic shapes and softer interactions, aiming for something engaging without being chaotic.
Designing for Kids
The interface leaned heavily on icons, characters, and animation over text — making the experience more engaging and visually rewarding for that age group.
Micro-animations were built in Lottie with After Effects throughout the product. Closer to the end of the project, I proposed taking it further with an interactive Mini-Me Island in Rive — a themed environment kids could explore, with each area having its own animations and interactive elements.
Outcome
Getting a rough prototype in front of real stakeholders early — before everything is polished — creates momentum and surfaces feedback that internal reviews rarely catch. The two-day turnaround was tight, but it moved the project forward in a way that weeks of internal iteration might not have.