Kids A-Z
One Portal. Every Product. Millions of Students.
The Opportunity
As the Learning A-Z product portfolio expanded into more student-facing offerings, the need for a unified student destination was rushing toward us. I conceived Kids A-Z in 2014 as the answer — a single portal where any student could access every product their teacher owned. I led the design and build of the entire platform, student-facing and teacher-facing, guiding its evolution for over a decade. What started with 4 million students grew to 14 million. Ongoing user testing across age groups and grade levels drove continuous iteration, grounding every update in how students actually learn, navigate, and stay engaged.
The Kids A-Z student experience is split into two purpose-built interfaces: an immersive space-themed environment for K-2, and a stats-forward interface for grades 3-5 that respects older students' growing sense of ownership over their progress. Designing a login flow for pre-readers required its own solution: a class chart with unique color and shape combinations, pictogram passwords, and a lab mode for shared devices. The teacher side gives educators a single destination to manage rosters, adjust settings, and monitor progress. A native-built mobile app with full feature parity across iOS and Android extended the experience beyond the classroom.
More Than a Mascot
The Kids A-Z mascot has evolved continuously alongside the platform, with the most recent redesign in 2024 built to be more expressive, communicative, and gender-neutral while appealing across the full K-5 age range. A face-screen display communicates nonverbally through basic expressions and emojis, giving pre-readers a way to connect with the mascot before they can read a single word. The personality was carefully crafted to be a genuine partner in the student's learning journey: taking ownership of failures with encouragement while turning wins completely over to the student. Focus testing across ages 5-11 and multiple genders confirmed the redesign landed. The result is a futuristic, friendly presence built specifically for digital natives, designed to grow alongside students rather than talk down to them.
Scale & Reach
At its peak, Kids A-Z served 14 million rostered students in a single year, up from 4 million when it launched in 2014. Built as a free companion to every student-facing Learning A-Z product, it became the daily destination for K-5 learners across a portfolio that grew aggressively for over a decade.
