After Google shut down SuperPoke! Pets, I took a contract role at a Menlo Park-based startup named PixyKids as a UI Designer. PixyKids was another Web 2.0 platform partially funded by the FCC with the mission of bringing safe, parent-monitored social media to children aged 8 - 16.

ChatterBox High Fidelity Prototype

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I was hired as a contract UI Designer for a year contract. My set of responsibilities were pretty straight forward. I was to work on user research and high fidelity mockups. I primarily worked on the avatar design, photo sharing, and the chatter interfaces. Checkout some of the interface examples below.

Customize Avatar High Fidelity Prototype

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The challenge that I faced with PixyKids was creating interface designs that felt fun and wonky, like a kids’ cartoon, but that could be easily coded by the development team. PixyKids was my first experience designing for a specific persona.

Edit Profile High Fidelity Prototype

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At this time, skeuomorphic design was still trending in the design community, so I focused my designs on 3D objects with depth that felt tangible. I based my color palettes on saturated primary colors, chose easy-to-read san serif typography, and created simple micro copy instructions with a kid’s persona in mind.