Lyka is an educational toy developed by Connected Sparks, designed to encourage children to learn through teaching another creature about the world around them. At the time I came on, Connected Sparks was still in its startup stages, and needed to produce an enormous amount of materials for the first set of Lyka orders going out all over the United States. As I executed this project remotely, I came home each day from my full-time job as visual merchandiser, then worked into the night to ensure it could be viewed by the next morning.
The first priority was the teacher’s manual, or Mission Control Guide, designed to aid the teacher through the Lyka lessons and to direct the class with the provided materials. A lot of the body text was still in the formative stages, so the layout was rearranged several times throughout the process. I made each icon myself, and created a Lyka font to use for all of “Lyka’s” notes, which I provided to Connected Sparks for internal use as well. I typeset the entire book and created every layout used within it. The entire manual was finished within 3 weeks from start to finish.
I illustrated and typeset two letter inserts from Lyka, as well as a variety of Challenge Cards, and a Feelings Sheet intended to help the children learn and identify emotions.
Another include for the Lyka care packages was a circuit card the kids could use to “make a robot friend for Lyka” by making a full circuit with a battery, LED lightbulb, and copper tape. The card itself was a diagram designed to be drawn on, so each child could sketch his or her own friend for Lyka, then build the circuit over the top and have the “robot” come to life.
Throughout the process, I was in constant contact with the CEO of the company. We worked closely on the care packages, deciding what would create the most holistic experience of a visitor from outer space to their classroom.
