THE CHALLENGE:
Phosphor is an EdTech start-up producing STEM education resources for KS1 and KS2 pupils aged 8–10, connecting the science curriculum to real-world news stories, faster than any textbook publisher could move. Phosphor was entering one of the most trust-sensitive markets in education: primary school science, dominated by established legacy publishers with decades of institutional credibility. A new entrant with no track record had to earn teacher and parent confidence from a standing start — while being engaging enough that 8–10 year olds would want to use the materials. The tension: authoritative enough for educators, playful enough for children.
PHOSPHOR
THE APPROACH:
No creative team. No budget. Just me and a Canva account.
The practical constraints turned out to be creative clarifiers. Teachers have printint restrictions - colour is not a given - so every layout has to work in monochrome first, forcing a rigour in the underlying structure that most educational design skips. The result was materials that felt considered and clean, injecting fun and personality with graphics, not imagery.
The core insight was about teacher confidence, not student engagement. I designed every piece of content to be teacher-proof: clear enough that someone with no science background could walk in and deliver it successfully. Remove friction for the teacher, and the student experience takes care of itself.
SCOPE OF WORK:
Full brand identity: visual system, typography, colour, tone of voice.
Creative direction across all digital, print and product communications
Worksheet and resource design: reimagining the format from the ground up
Website redesign and relaunch
E-commerce creative and infrastructure
Newsletter strategy and design
Brand asset library and campaign templates
VISUAL IDENTITY
Defined the brand’s visual identity and creative direction across all digital, print, and product communications.
BRAND GUIDELINES
BRANDING ASSETS
WEBSITE & NEWSLETTER
Led a full website redesign and relaunch, contributing to a 1000% increase in web sales.
Developed integrated marketing campaigns and newsletter strategy, achieving average open rates of 40%.
WEBSITE DESIGN
NEWSLETTER CONTENT & DESIGN
LEARNING RESOURCES
Designed a curriculum-linked content series for STEM club leaders, combining editorial articles with practical classroom activities.
STEM CLUB ARTICLES
STEM CLUB WORKSHEETS
MARKETING
Built core marketing infrastructure including brand assets, campaign templates, and e-commerce creative.
