COMBINE CLASSIC TACTILE PLAY

WITH THE BEST OF DIGITAL LEARNING

chief creative officer // brand identity // creative direction // app & product design // company culture & leadership

FEEL WHAT YOU LEARN!

It was 2016, and tablets were everywhere. Kids as young as one were swiping and tapping their way through a new digital world—logging more screen time than ever.
But hands-on play is still a critical part of how kids learn. So we set out to bring the best of both worlds together—creating one of the first series of physical toys that interacted with award-winning learning apps on tablets.
**“Tiggly are leading in a space where others are destined to follow.”**
**— Huffington Post**

TIGGLY: A BRAND

TIGGLY IS A NONSENSE WORD THAT’S SUPER-FUN TO SAY!
I wanted to create a character for the brand that *felt* like the word “Tiggly”—a little squishy, a lotta stretchy, and full of fun. A character without too much definition, so every kid could see a bit of themselves in Tiggly and imagine whatever they wanted it to be.

TIGGLY TOYS

I THOUGHT OF EACH TIGGLY TOY AS A KEY THAT OPENS UP A DIGITAL TOY BOX.
For every app I created across the product line, I focused on building a rich world of characters, textures, and sounds. Each experience was designed to feel like playful exploration—where every interaction with the on-screen toy felt both purposeful and a little bit magical.
Like opening up a toy box on a screen—full of joy, surprise, and endless possibilities.

SHAPES GOT TALENT!

Tiggly Shapes was designed for our youngest users, introducing them to basic shapes while sparking early language development through playful interaction.

For Shapes Got Talent, we partnered with Dr. Herbert Ginsburg—Jacob H. Schiff Foundation Professor of Psychology & Education at Teachers College, Columbia University—to create an interactive story that introduced young learners to basic geometry, language, storytelling, and social-emotional learning.

A CHEF, SOME CARDBOARD, & AWARD-WINNING MATH APPS

One of the most beloved characters in the Tiggly universe, Chef (voiced by Sesame puppeteer and voice artist Tyler Bunch), is as sassy as a spicy hula monkey cake. Kids jump in as sous-chefs, using math to help Chef prepare ingredients for his wild and whimsical kitchen creations.

For Tiggly Cardtoons, I based the gesture-counting game on something I used to play with my own kids. We’d take scraps of cardboard and see what kinds of characters and stories we could dream up by rearranging the pieces in fun, unexpected ways.

spot directed by Jarett Bellucci

animation by Dale Clowdis

WORDS ON THE STREET!

For Tiggly Words, I wanted the apps to feel bigger and more exploratory—with a wide range of experiences, from the familiar to the fantastical. It was the perfect playground for the magic of early language learning.

We partnered with Sesame Workshop for our first major IP collaboration. I drew on my experience working with the Sesame crew on the television production side to help create an app we’re all incredibly proud of—and one that pushed the Sesame brand into new creative territory.

More about Sesame Street Alphabet Kitchen

animation by Fangyu Yang & Dale Clowdis

animation by Dale Clowdis