Biba

Most app design is built around one goal: keep the user on the screen. Biba's mandate was the opposite. The core premise was that instead of competing with digital-native kids' love of screens, the platform would use it — channeling game mechanics, narrative framing, and character-driven reward loops as ignition for physical playground activity.

The design challenge had two distinct layers. First, the interface had to serve two completely different users at the same time. The parent, acting as game master and referee, needed clean, scannable, glare-resistant UI they could operate one-handed while supervising a child in a noisy outdoor environment. The child was not even looking at the screen during the core loop — they were the ones sprinting across the playground. Every instruction had to be simple enough to be shouted across a park and understood instantly.

Second, the design had to be intentionally self-defeating. Standard apps are engineered to hold attention. This one had to push the player away from the device on purpose, using digital rewards as a spark for physical action rather than a reason to stay glued to the glass.

As one of the earliest designers on the project, I worked across the full creative scope of the platform during its foundational stage:

• Character design — concepting, iterating, and finalising the Biba robot cast from early sketches through to final in-game art
• World and environment art — background design, landscape illustration, and the overall visual world the characters inhabit
• UI design — final in-game interface design across multiple games and modes
• UX wireframes — lo-fi flow documentation through to hi-fi screen designs, mapping out the parent-referee interaction model and game loops
• Original game design — working on initial games and modes including Biba Racer and Relay
• Promotional and convention materials — studio-facing design work for external events and presentations

A core structural decision was the parent-as-referee model. Keeping the phone firmly in the parent's hands meant the child could focus entirely on the physical task. The interface was designed around this handoff — large, readable type, high-contrast layouts that held up in direct sunlight, and game instructions written to be read aloud rather than read silently.

The game loop itself was built as a physical embodiment cycle. A narrative premise would give the child a role, a fictional frame, and a clear physical objective. They would run off to perform the task on the actual playground equipment. Then they would return to the parent to log progress or complete a quick mini-game before the next lap began. The screen was never the destination — it was the starting gun.

The flow diagram below maps out the full game loop for Biba Racer, one of the original games. It documents the branching logic between tagged and non-tagged playground equipment, the player queue management, pit stop mechanics, and the leaderboard flow — showing how a single game session was structured to keep multiple children engaged across multiple laps.