Yoojin Seol

Imagine

Work

Role: Art Director & Designer
I worked on concept and brand strategy, communicated between stakeholders at Messenger, Messenger Kids, and the production studio, BUCK.

Programs: C4D, Redshift, Figma, Meta Keyframes, Illustrator, Photoshop 

Creative Director: Sean Daughtery
Art Director: Yoojin Seol, Eliza Reisfeld
Production Studio: BUCK
Animation: Chris Slowick, David Pocull, Jerry Liu
Created at Meta with the Messenger Team
Messenger Kids Rebrand

Messenger Kids is a messaging and video chat app designed for kids to connect with their friends and family in a safe, parent-controlled environment. 

Our goal is to empower kids to connect through safe communication, creative expression, and play!

Download Messenger Kids
App Store
Google Play
messengerkids.com


Before the rebrand



Messenger Kids first looked cute, colorful, and playful. 

While it had its charm for younger kids, Facebook’s main goals for the rebrand were to:

  • Evolve the brand look to be cool to kids 6-12
  • Resonate with kids as well as parents & guardians
  • Make Messenger Kids feel like it belongs with Messenger




The Recess Rebrand

We rebranded Messenger Kids to refresh the entire experience in-product and in marketing. 

Our target audiences were kids 6-12 and their parents and guardians, which presented a unique design challenge. 

For kids, we wanted to visually show possibilities and features in a fun and inspiring way. Young kids are still developing reading comprehension, so visuals needed to easily communicate the idea to kids. 

Kids experience Messenger Kids through games, video chats, with creative tools like stickers, drawing, and camera AR effects offer fun ways for kids to express themselves and communicate. 

For parents, we wanted to clearly communicate the app’s features and controls to parents. In Messenger Kids, parents have a dashboard that they can review and manage their kids’ contacts and activity. We want to emphasize that Messenger Kids is a secure digital space for kids.




For the app store





For parents - onboarding



For kids - safety, kindness, privacy 




Sticker pack  

Tutorial Prompts  
Various triggers for in-camera AR games: 
Tap, Two-player game, move around your screen, rotate your screen, open your mouth


For kids - customize your app




For kids - conversation starter games  







Brand Character Pitch

Who would Messenger Kids be when they’re personified?
Perhaps the kid user’s best friend. 💚
Thus, the idea for our brand character, Delightful Dwight was born!



Giving kids the option to choose their best friend. (2D character illustrations are by Eliza Reisfeld)

Dwight can make boring loading screens fun and helpful.

Dwight can be a safe friend to teach kids about safety features like block and report.

Please click to advance the frame. During onboarding, Dwight can help kids discover and use the app to its full potential.Dwight can be easily accessible through the kid’s chat and answer questions about the app.


Brand Illustration Guidelines  





Game UI Refresh



Color & Gradient System