Team Members
Kendall Brandt
Illustrator + Visual Systems Designer
Liv Bowman
Research + UX/UI Designer
MINT Design Studio
As part of a collaborative design project, my partner and I were tasked with reimagining a pre-surgery preparation book into an interactive app experience for a UF Shands Children's Hospital. The goal was to create a comforting, age-appropriate visual language that would help young patients understand and feel more at ease about what to expect before surgery. Competing against several other teams, we pitched our concept to real Child Life Specialists from the hospital — and our design was selected for real-world development and future adaptation into a children’s storybook.
RECOGNITION
Ligature 29
Faculty's Choice Award 2019
With a wide and diverse audience in mind — spanning different ages, races, genders, and educational backgrounds — we needed a main character that felt welcoming, relatable, and inclusive. We chose to create an animal character rather than a human one to avoid reinforcing specific gender or cultural identifiers, allowing every child to see themselves in the story. The alligator was a natural fit: not only is it a nod to the University of Florida (UF), whose mascot is the Gator, but the hospital itself (Shands) is closely affiliated with UF and located directly next to campus. Many of the staff and volunteers are UF students or alumni, making the character feel rooted in the hospital’s identity.
The Gator acts as a friendly guide, walking children through the steps leading up to surgery. While alligators are often associated with aggression or fear, we intentionally designed this character to feel soft and approachable. With a big smile, rounded edges, dulled claws and teeth, and a playful thumbs-up pose, the Gator helps ease anxiety and invites trust — becoming a companion children can root for on their journey.
Character Design: The Gator
Final Character Design: The Gator
While the app’s main character is an animal, it was important that the hospital staff be illustrated as human to maintain a sense of realism and reinforce that these are real people who will be caring for the child. The goal with these caregiver illustrations was to present doctors, nurses, and medical staff — who can often feel intimidating — as warm, approachable, and supportive figures. To achieve this, facial features were simplified for a friendly and inviting tone, while body proportions remained relatively accurate to retain believability.
A key focus in the design was also helping children recognize commonly used medical tools before encountering them in person. Items like clipboards, hair nets, surgical masks, and scrubs were illustrated with enough detail to be educational, but still in a soft, approachable style — minimizing fear and building familiarity ahead of their hospital visit.
Character Design: Caregivers
FULLY DEVELOPED ILLUSTRATIONS
APP PROTOTYPE
This app is currently being backend developed by a group of coders from UF's Dream Team Engineering. User testing with UF Shands patients will be happening soon!
BOOK ADAPTATION
While the app was designed to be interactive and engaging in a digital format, it was equally important to adapt the experience into a printed storybook. Creating a tactile, physical version ensures the system is accessible in environments where mobile devices may be limited, and it offers an additional way for patients, families, and staff to engage with the content. The Child Life Specialists at UF Shands — who supported and guided us throughout the project — emphasized that books are one of the most effective tools they use to comfort and distract young patients before procedures. By bringing the story to life in print, we created a flexible, comforting resource that meets children where they are — whether on a screen or in their hands.
