Luna

AI Learning Assistant Brand and Launch

  • Brand Design

  • Website Design

  • Creative Direction

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Newsela needed an AI assistant that felt like part of the product family from day one, not a mascot bolted onto the interface after the fact. My job was to define a complete brand system for Luna, Newsela's AI-powered learning assistant: character, visual identity, and launch materials, so the product had a consistent, trustworthy personality the moment it shipped.

Finding the character

Character direction exploration comparing Everett, an astronaut, against Nova, a more traditional robot mascot

We considered Nova, a more traditional friendly robot, but landed on Everett, an astronaut, because it tied directly to Newsela Writing, which was already AI-powered and already used space and astronaut motifs. That connection made Luna feel like part of an existing product family instead of a new mascot bolted on.

Choosing a palette

Color palette exploration testing several purple and blue gradient combinations for Luna, with the final direction circled

After trying a few combinations, we leaned toward darker shades and purples that echoed Newsela Writing's own palette, which already used AI-associated purple tones. That decision made Luna feel consistent with the one AI experience users already knew, instead of introducing a competing visual language.

Building the system

Luna results: icon and pose library, character rendering comparison, and final gradient stops

The character direction and palette came together into a library of roughly 25 Luna astronaut poses and a refined gradient (moving from cyan through blue into deep purple) used consistently across every touchpoint.

Luna product and UI components including gradients, outlines, loaders, avatars, tags, buttons, filter chips, and conversational UI bubbles

From there I built out the full set of product components Luna needed to actually ship: gradient treatments and outlines for different backgrounds, a loading state, a minimized icon, an avatar, "Created by Luna" and "AI" tags, buttons and CTAs in every state, filter and input chips, and the conversational UI bubbles that make up the chat experience itself.

Launching Luna

Marketing launch materials for Luna, including an announcement graphic, an AI philosophy statement, and product UI for the text leveler, lesson planner, and chat panel

Launch marketing introduced Luna directly ("Introducing Luna, your new AI-powered assistant!") alongside a statement on Newsela's philosophy for AI tools in education, plus the product UI for the text leveler, lesson planner, and "Create with Luna" chat panel that made the assistant tangible rather than abstract.

Luna product page wireframe for newsela.com/luna, including the hero section and the "Why Luna works for teachers" feature breakdown

I designed a wireframe in collaboration with the product marketing team for Luna's product page before handing it off to the development team to launch, covering the hero ("Meet Luna, your new AI teaching assistant!") and a "Why Luna works for teachers" section breaking down time-saving instructional tools, skill check activities, and scaffolds that support student outcomes.

Luna shipped with a character, a visual system, and a full set of product components built together instead of stitched on afterward, so every team building around it, from marketing to product to customer-facing teams, had one consistent identity to work from.