Together with Smiling Bard, we created a platform that is transforming education with the power of AI.
SERVICES
Responsive Product Design - Branding - UX/UI Design - Design systems - Responsive website
INDUSTRIES
Education Technology
CUSTOMER
Smiling Bard
(The brief)
Smiling Bard needed a brand and design system that felt as inspiring as its mission. The goal was to help students fall in love with learning again, while giving teachers tools that ease their workload and spark creativity.
The brand needed to feel warm, confident, and emotionally intelligent. At the same time, the system had to be built to scale across a full suite of AI-powered tools for different users and use cases.
(Key objectives)
The mission
We partnered with Smiling Bard to:
Build a visual identity rooted in emotional intelligence, not just education.
Create a scalable design system for a multi-product platform.
Design UI elements that feel supportive rather than instructive.
Set the tone for a product that puts people first, even when powered by AI.
Design and develop key creative assets including the website and other branded materials.
(How we did it)
Our APPROACH
1. Start with feeling
We began with the question: how should Smiling Bard make users feel?
The answers were clear: joy, curiosity, calm, and self-belief. These emotions shaped every part of the brand system, from the use of soft, natural colours to rounded corners and approachable typography. The brand needed to feel more like a favourite teacher than a piece of software.
Suggestive, not demanding
We designed the interface to support users, not command them.
Buttons and interactions were styled to feel gentle and inviting, especially in areas where the teacher is reflecting, exploring, or generating content. The microcopy avoids imperatives and leans into suggestion, giving users space to think and choose.
This was particularly important for building trust with educators, many of whom feel overwhelmed by tools that demand too much attention.
Green for growth
The core colour palette is centred around a rich, calming green, chosen for its associations with growth, learning, and renewal.
The dark primary green is used intentionally across key elements to signal authority, education, and trust. It gives the platform a sense of grounding and clarity, especially in moments where users are asked to focus or take action.
We paired it with soft off-whites and warm neutrals to create a balanced, natural feel. This approach helped Smiling Bard stand out from the cold blues and greys typical of edtech, while supporting accessibility and emotional impact.
Designed to scale
We used Atomic Design principles to build a robust system of tokens, components, and patterns.
With plans for multiple products, user types, and learning modes, the system had to be flexible and future-ready. We focused on grid layouts and responsive stacks to make scaling across breakpoints seamless. This allowed the product to adapt easily across web and mobile without breaking the visual hierarchy.
From buttons and cards to full-page layouts, every element was designed to be reused and adapted. The result is a design system that supports fast development while keeping the brand experience consistent and polished.
(the outcome)
our impact
At the end of the project, we delivered:
A brand identity built around joy, trust, and emotional clarity.
A scalable design system used across teacher and student tools.
Faster rollout of new features and products.
Clear UI language that invites users in rather than overwhelming them.
