What I've Learned About Design By Designing For Kids

Transitioning from over 15 years of client service work to creating a product for children has been the greatest challenge and most rewarding effort of my career — and I've learned many things that have made me a better designer.

Transcript

1. I’m Paul Armstrong @wiseacre Hello.
4. Co-founder & CCO of ChoreMonster
5. How I Get Paid To Draw Monsters & Tell Fart Jokes (…Seriously)
6. Sh*t Tubs And Other Things
 You Can’t Prepare For In Life
7. How Do You Pick The Perfect Typeface For A Presentation? (New Keynote Is The Worst)
8. Titles Are Meaningless
 And Forgettable (The Reckoning)
9. I Thought “The Godfather” Was Just OK (I Secretly Love “You’ve Got Mail”)
10. There’s an actual conspiracy theory that Tom Petty slipped into a coma in 1976 then died 
 a decade later. (People Be Cray-z)
12. What I’ve Learned About 
 Design By Designing For Kids
13. Who Am I?
15. I loved cartoons.
17. I loved to play.
19. I had hamsters.
21. I ate chalk.
22. Chalk tastes a lot like 
 unflavored Tums™
23. I was kind of weird.
25. I was an entrepreneur 
 before I even knew 
 that there was a word 
 for entrepreneur.
27. I wanted to be an architect 
 but I don’t math.
29. Instead, I decided I would be 
 a sculptor. Duh.
30. “Are you sure you don’t want 
 to work for Hallmark?”
31. SCULPTOR ILLUSTRATOR DESIGNER
36. Started an agency with four other designers.
37. You have chosen… …poorly.
38. Then I got fired.
40. An agency of one.
42. if ($desperation == “true”) { $skills = “everything”; } else { $skills = $desperation; }
43. I don’t know if this is 
 what I’m meant to be doing.
47. D x V x F > R (Gleicher Formula For Change)
48. D = Dissatisfaction (with how things are) V = Vision (of what’s possible) F = First steps (toward the vision) ! (If the product of these three factors is greater than) R = Resistance D x V x F > R
49. This guy…
50. And then change happened…
55. Children want the same things we want. To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted. “ ” — Dr. Seuss
56. Finding Inspiration
57. Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends
61. Eric Carle
65. Background Art From 
 The 1950’s & 60’s
69. The Initial Outcome
73. The Challenges
74. Create a unique and unified brand experience.
76. Gill Sans This type is set in Gill Sans Light, it’s pretty nice. And quite obviously this is set in Gill Sans Light Italic, duh. Blah words more word, Gill Sans Bold. Oh, and what have we here, Gill Sans Bold Italic. Extra Bold has a bit more whimsy to it. Ultra Bold is insane, just look at this “i”
82. Make it fun, but not just a mindless distraction.
85. Communicate non-verbally as much as possible.
86. Chores Rewards Carnival Monsters
89. Offer native experiences on many (many) devices.
94. Thinking globally (through localization).
96. The Results
97. 14,000 chores a day ! 2,500,000+ total completed chores
99. paularmstrong.me @wiseacre choremonster.com Thank you