Curadio
Designing Audio Based Learning for Kids in a Screen Dominated World
The Goal
When we first met the team behind Curadio in November 2023, their goal was simple yet ambitious: create a digital audio platform to enrich children’s imaginations while reducing screen dependency. The existing product wasn’t resonating as it lacked an identity, wasn’t designed for kids, and failed to connect with parents. That’s where we came in.
As part of the team, I led the effort to reimagine the full experience ecosystem, right from defining a playful brand identity to designing a kid- and parent-friendly website, a school-focused portal for classroom use, and an internal admin system to streamline content management.
MY ROLE
Product Strategist, UI-UX Design, Visual Design, User Flows, Rapid Prototyping
DELIVERABLES
Prototypes
Hi-fidelity
Design System
TEAM
Illustrators
Designers
Product Managers
Developers (Web and
Mobile)
YEAR
2023- 2024
What if kids could fall in love with stories — without staring at a screen?
The Challenge
How do you design a website that excites kids, reassures parents, and positions itself as a credible learning tool for schools?
Establishing Brand Identity from Scratch: Curadio came with no defined colors, logo, or mascot. Creating a recognizable identity that could scale across the ecosystem was both exciting and challenging.
Designing for Engagement Beyond Screens: Unlike video platforms, audio has no “visual hooks.” Crafting an interface that kept kids curious and parents assured, while still making audio discovery engaging, required careful interaction and visual design choices.
Research
We kicked off with foundational research in child psychology, focusing on how auditory, visual, and interactive experiences affect children in the 5–15 age group. From there, we evaluated market gaps, looking into the dominance of video-first platforms like YouTube and Cocomelon and the cognitive downsides of constant visual stimulation.
We conducted qualitative research with 15 parents and their children. These sessions were rich with insight:
What apps children loved and why
How parents viewed screen-time alternatives
Reactions to early-stage references and story formats
Compliance of Popular Apps
with Standards
88% Non-Compliant
Apps
12% Compliant Apps
Parental Preference for Calm/Educational Tools
80% Calm/Educational
Tools
20% Other
Tools
Parental Concerns About
Addictive Content
33% Not
Concerned Parents
67% Concerned
Parents
These storyboards captured not just pain points but the emotions and contexts that shaped our design opportunities.
Bedtime becomes a struggle as the child insists on watching more cartoons.
Books do not hold attention. The child rejects reading and the parent feels helpless.
Frustrated, the parent searches for alternatives and discovers Curadio.
They try an audio story together and the child listens with growing curiosity.
The child drifts off peacefully to the story while the parent feels relieved.
Digital Media's Impact on Children's Development.
Overstimulating Content
Visually engaging, weakens
imagination.
Shrinking Attention
Spans
Hyperactive media reduces focus.
Parental Struggle
Finding calming educational tools
is hard.
Key pain points surfaced:
Children gravitate toward visually overstimulating content, weakening imaginative faculties
Attention spans are shrinking due to hyperactive digital media
Parents struggle to find engaging yet calming educational tools
Kids love characters and interactive feedback (e.g., rewards)
Design Process
Phased, user-centered design approach across brand identity, website, admin, and school portals.
Phase 1
Brand Identity
Phase 2
Website Design
Phase 3
Admin Portal
Phase 4
School Portal
Phase 1:
Brand Identity & Website
We began by creating a strong, consistent, and friendly brand that could be recognized and trusted by both kids and their parents.
Logo Direction
The approach focused on building playful familiarity.
Rounded, soft-edged typography was paired with vibrant, high-contrast colors to enhance visual recall among children while ensuring readability.
Each letter was given a unique color to make the logo feel energetic, memorable, and fun—true to the spirit of Curadio.
Color Palette & Typography
A mix of high-contrast, cheerful colors was chosen to strike a balance between playful energy and visual clarity.
The primary font, Baloo, was chosen for its soft, rounded features ideal for young readers,
While Quicksand was used for body text to maintain clarity and modernity.
Mascot – Curo the Panda
Curo was chosen as a gentle, calming presence in contrast to overstimulating or overused mascots like owls.
Pandas are universally loved and visually approachable, making Curo the perfect emotional guide through the interface.
Information Architecture
The information architecture for website, school login and admin portal was carefully structured to help both parents and educators explore content intuitively.
Contact
Stories
Curadio for Schools
Articles
About Us
Contact Us
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Story Time!
Welcome to Curo’s Library
Top Blogs of the Month
Published on 23 Mar 2023
The Digital Playground: Understanding the Surge in Kids' Screen Time
In the evolving landscape of modern childhood, one undeniable phenomenon stands out.
Published on 23 Mar 2023
The Digital Playground: Understanding the Surge in Kids' Screen Time
In the evolving landscape of modern childhood, one undeniable phenomenon stands out.
Published on 23 Mar 2023
The Digital Playground: Understanding the Surge in Kids' Screen Time
In the evolving landscape of modern childhood, one undeniable phenomenon stands out.
View All
Adventure of kimi the fly
Story by - Advait Sane
(Poddar International School, Parle)
Adventure of kimi the fly
Story by - Advait Sane
(Poddar International School, Parle)
Got a captivating tale?
Submit it to us for a chance to shine on Curadio!
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Your Grade
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+ Add mp3, pdf, jpg, doc file
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Stories
Curadio for Schools
Articles
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Phase 2:
Website Design
The overall website design balances playful, kid-friendly visuals with trust-building elements for parents and teachers, making it both engaging and credible. The website and the entire Curadio ecosystem are designed to be fully responsive.
Let’s decode the home page structure (highlighted sections)
The homepage opens with a carousel of story options, giving visitors an immediate taste of the content variety.
Builds emotional trust and positions Curadio as safe and effective for both home and school use.
A weekly free story builds trust, reduces hesitation to subscribe, and forms a habit loop that brings users back
A playful, radio-themed form invites children and teachers to send in their own stories.
Curo the Panda appears on the homepage to make the platform friendly, kid-centric, and memorable from the start.
Every week, one curated free story is highlighted for parents and kids to experience.
A section dedicated to parents’ and teachers’ voices, reinforcing credibility.
This feature not only fosters engagement but also makes users feel like contributors, not just consumers.
stoRY LIST PAGE
We created a clean story playback screen with a bold audio player and minimal distractions, keeping kids focused on listening.
Activity sheets button is activated once you complete listening to the story
stoRY LIST PAGE
LOGIN AND PERSONALISATION
Designed a simple login process with bright, welcoming visuals to reduce friction for parents and kids.
Personalisation through name entry and fun panda avatars makes the experience playful and builds a sense of ownership.
CURO’S LIBRARY- RESOURCES PAGE
SUBSCRIPTION
Curo’s Library is a resource hub with blogs and curated content for parents and teachers, extending learning while boosting SEO reach.
The subscription page uses clear pricing tiers, simple CTAs, and playful mascot visuals to build trust and drive conversions.
Blog detail and about us
curadio for school
The About Us page uses creative animations to make the brand story more engaging and memorable.
The Curadio for Schools page highlights easy steps for adopting curadio, making it simple for educators.
Errors that engage
Phase 3:
Admin portal
Our UX strategy focused on simplifying complex backend tasks so the content team could upload, tag, and organize stories with minimal effort. The design prioritized a clean, functional layout with bulk upload, metadata tagging, and clear categorization to ensure scalability.
Phase 4:
school portal
The School Portal was designed to fit naturally into classroom routines, using a simple class login and instant story playback. A clean, distraction-free interface paired with ready-to-print activity sheets made it easy for teachers to engage students without adding extra effort.
Impact & Early Results
82%
Parents engaged with the “Free Story” feature on their first visit, validating it as a strong trust-building hook.
25+
schools enrolled within the first quarter, validating demand for audio learning in classrooms
71%
Visitors rated the website as “safe, playful, and trustworthy”, reinforcing the brand positioning.
Users associated Curo the Panda with Curadio after first visit, proving the mascot boosted recall and became the face of the brand.
Thankyou
for visiting!
Grateful you stayed till the final level. Every scroll counts, thank you for exploring my world.
