Product Designer & Content Strategist
Backstory
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt wanted to launch a subscription-based product for early learners. The executive team worked to retrofit a product idea to the business model. Nothing fit the glass slipper.
The differentiator
To help define the opportunity, I first mapped out Houghton Mifflin’s early learning ecosystem. If any ideas cannibalized existing products, I swept those off the table.
Next, I looked for an early-learning framework that could anchor this venture. REAL was a popular school product that defined growth milestones. It was a really. good. find. Milestones were organized by theme.
Using REAL, I defined hundreds of tiny ‘joint-engagement’ activities to track on the go. It empowered parents. It celebrated kids’ growth. It generated a Instagram-like growth chart.
Can your child balance on one foot for 9 seconds? Tap yes to track against health and well-being. Can your child identify stop signs on the way to school? Tap yes to track against family and community.
Curious World evolves
With a solid framework in place, the Curious World budget expanded. Now, the product team was empowered to license and create content aligned to learning areas.
I identified the first wave of content to be licensed and ingested—setting the tone for the app’s voice and style. Thereafter, I directed content strategy, defining tagging and recommendation logic to ensure that kids got a balanced diet of skill-building activities.
Validation
Messaging from parents was consistent. There’s a lot of free content available to kids. But being able to track against learning areas made it subscription-worthy. When we revealed the learning donut in testing, a parent remarked, “Why didn’t you show me this first? I would pay at least $10 a month for that.”
Kudos
Curious World launched with hundreds of learning-aligned games, videos, and ebooks. It was later purchased by Kidsy.
- Kidscreen Awards winner
- Teachers’ Choice Award for Family
- National Parenting Product Award (NAPPA)
The addition of a parents’ portal makes this app stand out from others purporting to be educational experiences for kids.”
— Sarah Perez, TechCrunch