Michelle Wisner
Kid_Laptop.jpg

The Star Student Challenge

(2021)

The Star Student Challenge was created by the health technology company I worked at as an in-house designer. This new challenge was meant to motivate kids to be successful in school by tracking their habits and rewarding them when they achieve their goals with fun healthy items from their health plan’s catalog.

The design team and I were tasked with creating an explainer video aimed at parents and their children that would introduce them to this new challenge, let them know how it works, and motivate them to work together to complete it. My role was to manage a team of designers from initial concept to final delivery. I also created the design direction and illustration style and took part in working on the graphics and the animation.

This project presented a unique challenge to the design team since the product wasn’t finalized. For this reason I focused on creating a simple and clean design that could be edited if need be. I wanted the graphics and motion design to reinforce the dialogue and text on the screen to make this challenge easier to understand for both parents and kids. I chose fun and bright colors to add contrast and interest to the page in order to keep children engaged and to make this challenge feel exciting.


Role: Art Direction, Design, Animation
Company: Finity

 

Animated Video

Characters

The video was aimed at parents and their children (ages 8-13). Due to a quick turnaround, we based the character design on past experience with the client. We chose a Hispanic mom and her son as the main characters to add diversity and prevent the audience from thinking this challenge was female-focused.

 

Design Challenges

As we explored various design options, the team and I prioritized simplicity and flexibility. We aimed to create graphics that could be easily edited as we received more information about the challenge. To this end, we opted for more abstract representations of the web portal, which would be easier to modify in case of changes, and despite it’s abstract nature, we ensured that they were still visually appealing and easy to understand. I believe that this approach allowed us to create a final product that was both effective and adaptable.

 

How the Star Student Challenge works:

choose 3 goals

Parents and their children will work together and choose 3 star student goals from a list provided to them.

meet daily goals

Once they meet one of their goals they can go to the Star Student Challenge web portal and track that day as a ‘YES’.

earn goal stars

For every goal the child meets each week they earn a goal star.

complete the challenge

To win the challenge, they will need to meet at least 1 goal, 3 days each week of the 4-week challenge.

get reward points

As soon as they win, their reward points will be added to their account.

spend your points

They can spend their reward points on fun, healthy items from the member rewards program provided by their health plan.