An end-to-end internal experiment, NOVA is a user-friendly AI storyteller embedded within an app, designed to help families and children bring new stories to life, extending them and changing them as they go.
NOVA was created to facilitate active story creation and telling between parents and children using guided prompts in a purpose built interface, to easily craft stories from their shared imaginations.
Envisioned as an inquisitive and interactive entity, NOVA resides within the app — a friendly, guiding presence brought to life through five dynamic lines that move as it communicates.
More than an interface, NOVA is an anthropomorphised AI companion — a co-creator and storyteller who lives inside the magical jukebox of a child’s imagination. It helps children craft their own stories, offering prompts, curiosity, and wonder along the way.
Rooted in the bedtime and storytelling rituals we observed through first-hand research, NOVA embodies that familiar feeling of safety, creativity, and companionship — a gentle voice that turns moments of listening into moments of creation.
The idea for NOVA came as a response to the growing need for purpose built AI applications that take the interaction of out a generalised GPT interface, and into unique interfaces that allow people to interact with AI in a more guided manner relative to a desired outcome. In this case allowing parents and children to create new stories from their imaginations in a secure and ring fenced environment.
Importantly though, the project serves as an example on how to create commercially viable AI-driven products, with a paid model that is fair for the consumer, and profitable for the business.
The team had a great time bringing this vision to life, complete with a unique brand, a live iOS App, a working commercial model, and marketing website that make our concept real.
