PrepMeKids

Personalized Picture book Illustration

PrepMeKids-Personalized books for children that aim to demystify medical procedures and conditions, in the hopes of improving healthcare experiences.

With a child-centered approach, PrepMeKids transform medically complex subjects into relatable and enjoyable stories where young readers take center stage. Our books aspire to empower children to navigate their health with confidence and curiosity.

The Challenge

PrepMekids had a clear vision: they wanted to create a personalized, book-packaged experience that children and caregivers could relate to when undergoing a medical procedure. The main challenges were:

Achieving true personalization: Allowing options for different genders, skin tones, hairstyles, eye shapes, and outfits.
Universal relatability: The graphic elements (such as food, medical equipment, and procedures) needed to be culturally neutral and not tied to any specific country.
Scope and budget management: Finding a way to streamline the endless narrative and visual outcomes to make the project financially and logistically feasible.

The Solution

Through research, testing, and a lot of trial and error, we cracked the personalization puzzle. We managed to limit the infinite variables while still ensuring diverse representation. We finalized a system with:

7 skin tones
16 different hairstyles
4 eye shapes
4 outfit colors

To make this scalable, we designed a base avatar that served as a placeholder for all these interchangeable features.

We built each illustration with a modular, layered structure in Adobe Illustrator. Simply by toggling layer visibility, the character's skin tone, hair, or outfit could be swapped instantly. We also created a standardized set of background characters for the medical staff, including doctors and nurses.

By optimizing the pipeline during the creation of the first book, we were able to reuse core assets across subsequent stories. This allowed us to focus purely on the specific medical procedures of each new book, drastically reducing production time and costs.

The process

The final result

"Because every child deserves to feel prepared, empowered, and loved."

PrepMeKids

Find out more here