Designing a mascot for a children's science museum

We made her as a practice project. No client, no brief. We just wanted to design a mascot for CuriOdyssey, a science playground and zoo in San Mateo where kids meet animals, touch bugs, and learn about conservation. Designing for a physical space is completely different from product work. You’re thinking about how a character reads from across a room, how a sign holds a kid’s attention, how wayfinding actually works when your audience is six years old. We don’t always get to explore that stuff with clients, so we made the opportunity ourselves.

Pookie’s Path

The big idea was a conservation story trail called Pookie’s Path. Eight stations across the museum grounds, each covering a different topic: biodiversity, environmental justice, wildlife coexistence, STEAM. We gave her a full expression system, each one tied to a different moment a kid might have at the museum. Kids follow Pookie from stop to stop and the map asks “Can you find these Pookies along your journey?”

We designed signage for each station. Pookie peeking up from the bottom, butterflies, a question to get kids exploring. The whole system was meant to turn a museum visit into something kids actually want to finish.