Reading Park (formerly “Squiggle Park”) Art Direction and Visual Design

DreamBox Learning had acquired Squiggle Park as part of its expansion into early literacy. The goal for our product and engineering groups was to integrate and build the Squiggle Park (code name “Squiggle Box”) early literacy experience within the existing DreamBox platform and its adaptive and personalized technology. The product officially shipped as Reading park.

As the Senior Art Director, I spearheaded early brainstorm sessions with the broader student-focused Design and Art team members to assess what was feasible within the project’s scope. Our goal was to build upon the existing art style with its delightful characters and develop the storyline as part of the overall engagement. I had the opportunity to present to the broader organization and senior leadership a high-level design and artistic vision during the project’s official kickoff.

I then put on the Visual Designer hat and partnered with the Reading Plus Content Leadership, UX, and Art in setting up the visual design system for the product with a focus on WCAG accessibility standards, generous button target areas, captioning, and localization.

Special attention was also paid to the font choice, as early literacy learners were still learning the alphabet and font glyphs needed to reflect what educators were teaching in the classroom.

I also designed the visual system with flexibility and scalability of UI components as well as potential future features such as the option to toggle between light and dark modes. The fun part was exploring how some of the engagement screens could look with the Squiggle characters.