YGB Verse
https://studio.youtube.com/video/gKCTj0edVVo/edit
YGBVERSE is a game-based K-5 STEM learning platform built for kids who rarely see themselves in science and tech. Through four culturally relevant characters, each representing a STEM discipline,kids learn by playing, not by sitting still. It’s education that looks like them, and wins like them.
Task
Develop and execute a multi-platform content strategy for the launch of a culturally-driven edtech startup, building brand awareness, growing a qualified beta audience, and supporting a live Kickstarter campaign for a K-5 STEM app designed to close the representation gap for BIPOC children in science and technology.
Only 9% of STEM workers in the U.S. are Black, and 8% are Hispanic, despite these communities making up over 30% of the population. The representation gap starts early, long before college or careers. It starts in the classroom, and in the stories kids are told about who belongs in science.
YGBVERSE was built to close that gap, starting at K–5. An AI-driven, game-based learning web app where culturally relevant characters guide kids through science, technology, engineering, and math. Where sports and music are the entry points into formulas and circuits. Where every student sees a face that looks like theirs in a lab coat or behind a screen.
My role was to help bring this world to life, building the content ecosystem, visual assets, and multimedia strategy that would make YGBVERSE feel as real, urgent, and exciting on screen as it was in the founders’ vision.
This is the story of how an edtech startup on a mission used content, design, and storytelling to launch an MVP, grow a waitlist of 2,500 families, and go live on Kickstarter.
My job wasn’t just to make things look good, it was to translate a mission into a visual language that kids, parents, and educators could feel instantly. Here’s how I moved from strategy to deliverable.
Science
Jade
Tecnology
Zuma
Engineering
Mason
Math
Maya
YGBVERSE was built on one insight: kids don’t connect with what they can’t see themselves in. So the team created four original characters — Jade, Zuma, Mason, and Maya — each owning a STEM discipline, each designed to reflect the communities historically left out of science and tech. Not mascots. Mirrors.
The proof came in testing. When children from BIPOC communities met the characters for the first time, the reaction was immediate , kids pointed, self-identified, and didn’t want to stop playing. That kind of response doesn’t come from good UX. It comes from representation that actually lands.
2,500+ families on the beta waitlist. 97% would recommend. The community showed up because the product showed up for them firs
Typefase
Beatrice Regular
Usage
Headlines
Within the intricate and dynamic design process, our typefaces have frequently been employed as a critical backbone, lending both aesthetic and functional support.
Typefase
Beatrice Regular
Usage
Headlines
Typefase
Beatrice Regular
Usage
Headlines
We’d love to showcase your work! If you’ve used our typefaces, please email hola@clbthemes.com for a chance to be featured on our website or social media.
Management
Stacey Grey
Brand Research
John Stamper
Project Manager
Colin Mondero
Account Manager
Art Direction
Stephen Miller
Creative Director
Sarah Rickson
Brand Strategy
Production
Melissa Macaya
Graphic Design
Mark Caldwell
UI/UX Desing
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