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InspirationGraphic Design

Hello Ruby: Visualising a celebration of computing by creative agency Kokoro & Moi

When art project Hello Ruby needed a new identity and website design for its comprehensive children's computing brand, they called upon creative agency Kokoro & Moi to develop its online and offline presence, as well as work on various brand applications and products.

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Colourful brand identity materials and applications for Hello Ruby spread across a white surface, including notebooks, cards, icons and illustrations featuring playful characters and a vibrant colour palette of pink, green, orange and purple

A celebration of computing, Ruby is a small girl with a big imagination. Her animal friends help her navigate through a seemingly irrational world. In some ways, she’s like Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes, in others she’s like Pippi Longstockings. Ruby’s world has rules and reason, repetition and rhythm, ridicules and riddles and one can build something out of nothing.

Hello Ruby started in 2009 as an art project by Linda Liukas, programmer, storyteller and illustrator from Helsinki, but was boosted by a widely popular Kickstarter campaign in 2014. That was the opening shot, not only for the computing book the Kickstarter campaign was about, but for a comprehensive children’s computing brand with a goal to create the world's most whimsical way for youngsters to learn about technology, computing and coding.

Speaking of their work, Kokoro & Moi said: "The visual identity highlights the importance of playfulness and curiosity, when learning about coding. The colour palette is vivid and wide. The logo is built of colourful building blocks, characters playfully rotating the full circle. Friendly Maax Rounded as a primary font is accompanied by Maax Mono, monospaced font, in this case referring to the early computers.

"With scissors we cut paper pieces to create Hello Ruby Cutout, a custom-made font, to add more playfulness, fun and DIY attitude to the identity. Paper pieces are also used as building blocks for the pictograms, illustrations and animations. The stories and exercises are told through the cute and imaginative illustrations drawn by Linda. The identity system forms a playful and structured setting for these drawings, and adds layer of functionality to the storytelling."

Hello Ruby branding materials featuring a coloured block logo design and keyboard key-themed stickers in orange, green, pink and purple tones
Child holding up a colourful card with "HELLO RUBY" spelled out in building blocks, surrounded by design materials and colour swatches on a white table
Collection of nine branded materials for Hello Ruby showing colourful designs with playful typography, geometric shapes and character illustrations across various print applications
Colourful modular logo design for Hello Ruby split into two halves, featuring stacked building blocks in pink, purple, teal, orange and yellow with small character icons embedded throughout
Multiple Hello Ruby promotional materials and cards fanned out, featuring colourful block letters, illustrations of Ruby the character with animal friends, and playful design elements by Kokoro & Moi
Person holding Hello Ruby branded materials including a pink folder and colourful printed sheet, alongside a white tote bag and yellow cap featuring the brand's logo on a blue background
Hello Ruby typeface and font system displaying uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters in pink, green and orange
Hello Ruby website homepage displayed on a Mac monitor, featuring colourful playful design with "Hello!" greeting, navigation buttons and downloadable content sections
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