A Playground for Emotional Development

Some things you learn in school, but others, you’re just expected to know.

The Devin Project started with a question that didn’t sit right: why are we teaching kids everything about how to succeed in life, except for how to handle being alive?

We teach math, reading, science, but not how to process emotions, navigate stress, or ask for help. So I made the answer.

What It Is

The Devin Project is a school-integrated emotional literacy system designed to help students understand, express, and manage their emotions- just like any other learned skill. It’s built on the simple idea that emotional intelligence isn’t instinctive, it’s practiced.

From App to Environment

The project began as a digital concept. An app designed to live inside school systems, but this wasn’t meant to stay on a screen.

So I pulled it into the real world. Inspired by children’s museums and interactive spaces, I designed a full installation experience, something that students could move through, not just look at. A system you don’t just read about, but a system that you feel.

Why a Playground

Playgrounds are where kids learn without realizing they’re learning. They take risks, they fall, they try again, and they build confidence in motion. That became the framework.

The installation uses playground structures as a metaphor for emotional development because growth doesn’t happen in theory, it happens through experience.

The System

At the core is a repeatable method:

D — Discover
E — Express
V — Validate
I — Identify
N — Navigate

A structure that gives students language, awareness, and direction, something most were never taught.

This project is personal. Devin was my best friend. He was creative, thoughtful, and deeply talented and he should still be here. The Devin Project exists because he didn’t have the tools he needed and because other kids deserve to. His handwriting lives inside the system as a custom typeface, used throughout the experience. His presence is built into every part of it. Not as a memory, but as an active voice that continues to teach.

The Takeaway

This project sits at the intersection of illustration and design. Exactly where I work best. Emotion is translated through character systems, each feeling is represented through color, grounded in color psychology, typography becomes personal through real handwriting, and physical space and graphic systems merge into one experience.

The installation is just the beginning. The Devin Project is designed to live inside schools as a scalable system, through digital tools, physical activations, and daily interaction. Because emotional skills shouldn’t be optional, they should be taught.