Aptivo
A mobile learning app for early learners. Kids explore maths, art, logic, music and science through short lessons, a friendly flower guide called Petal, and progress they can actually see.
Case study by @heyhephzy • Product design, branding & illustration
Aptivo is a learning app for young children who are still building the habit of learning on their own. Many of them can't read fluently yet, so every screen has to make sense through colour, shape and character before it makes sense through words.
I designed the full experience: the name and wordmark, Petal the mascot, a set of hand-drawn subject illustrations, and nine screens that take a child from their first tap to a trophy case of earned badges.
Give learning a face. Every subject in Aptivo has its own colour and character, and Petal guides the child from the very first screen.
Lessons are short and broken into small steps. Streaks, progress bars and badges turn effort into something a child can see and be proud of. The settings parents need sit quietly behind the profile, away from the play space.
Onboarding is four screens and two questions. I wanted a child to be learning in under a minute, with nothing an adult needs to fill in for them.
1
Hello
The app opens on a face, so it feels like meeting someone.
2
Meet Petal
The guide peeks up before introducing herself.
3
“What's your name?”
The first question is about the child, not an account.
4
Pick what you love
Six big tiles, one tap each, then straight in.
A guide, not a form
Instead of a sign-up form, the child meets a character who asks their name. That name comes back on the home screen ("Hello Alyssa") and on the profile, so the app feels like it knows them.
A mascot gives a pre-reader something to follow. Petal shows up again as the small flower in the corner of every main screen, a constant reminder of who's guiding them.
Colour carries meaning
Maths is blue, Coding/Logic is mint, Art is lilac, Music is berry, Science is green and Reading is orange. The child picks subjects by colour and icon on day one, and the same colours return on lesson cards, course tiles and progress bars.
For a child who can't read "Science" yet, "the green one with the flask" is enough to find it again.
Every subject has a face
Each lesson card on Home is a little character with big googly eyes, sitting on top of its subject name and a progress bar. The overall progress ring at the top shows the whole picture at a glance.
Faces make the home screen feel like a group of friends to visit, not a list of tasks to clear.
Built for small hands
Courses are big, slightly tilted tiles stacked like toy blocks, each with one icon and one word: addition, puzzles, riddles, paint, chess. Subjects are grouped under their own heading, and a greyed "Coming soon" tile sets expectations for what's next.
The tilt and layered colour make the grid feel touchable and playful, while the large targets stay easy for small fingers.
Small steps
"Counting to 20" is split into bite-size parts: Numbers 1 to 5, 6 to 10 and so on, then a counting game and two practice quizzes. The current lesson is outlined and a simple bar shows "2 of 6 lessons done".
Young attention spans are short. Small wins keep momentum, and mixing games with quizzes keeps practice from feeling like a test.
Progress you can feel
The progress screen leads with the streak ("6 day streak! Keep it going, learn today"), then shows each subject's progress in its own colour, then the badges earned. A locked badge slot hints that there's always one more thing to unlock.
I kept the language encouraging rather than competitive. There's no leaderboard here; the only person a child is racing is yesterday's self.
Kids in front, parents behind
The profile puts the child's avatar, totals (14 lessons, 3 badges, 6 day streak) and trophy case up front. Parent settings, notifications and help live in a plain list underneath.
Grown-up controls stay reachable for parents without cluttering the space a child sees every day.
Coral is the brand and action colour. The other six each belong to one subject. Cocoa replaces black for outlines and text, which keeps everything soft.
Aptivo
Cheri
Wordmark only. Bouncy and hand-lettered, with a heart over the i.
Counting to 20
Rubik
UI and body text. Rounded corners and open letterforms keep it friendly and easy to read.
Two typefaces, each with one job. All the personality goes into the wordmark and illustrations, so the interface text can stay calm and legible.
I drew one object for each subject: a chalkboard easel for maths, a flask for science, a book stack for reading, a music note, a paint palette and a lightbulb for logic. They started as line drawings and were then filled with each subject's colour so they read as a set.
Designing for children taught me to stop leaning on words. When your user can't read the label, colour, shape and character have to do the work, and that discipline made every screen simpler.
It also changed how I think about delight. A face on a lesson card or a flower in the corner isn't decoration here. It's what makes a young child want to open the app again tomorrow. Building the brand, mascot and illustrations alongside the UI meant those choices could support each other instead of being added at the end.
Watch children and parents use a prototype to see where they hesitate, and which screens they return to on their own.
Let Petal read instructions aloud, so children who can't read yet can move through lessons without help.
Some white labels on the mint and orange tiles are light. I'd test them and darken text or tiles where needed.