Designing a Kids’ Website Is No Child’s Play

JrPress- Simplified news website for kids

As a Master’s student in UI/UX Design, I’m always looking for ways to simplify complex experiences. For my semester project, I decided to take on an exciting challenge designing a news website for kids.
Sounds fun, right? Well, let’s just say, it was anything but child’s play!
When I set out to design a news website for kids, I thought, “How hard could it be?” Turns out, quite a bit. The first and biggest challenge staring at me was simplicity — how do I make the experience engaging yet uncomplicated? (Tesler’s Law)

Breaking It Down: My Approach

I started by studying existing news websites to understand how they group and present information. Then, I looked at game websites to analyze their structure, but I knew I didn’t want my site to look like a gaming platform.
So, I broke my design process into three key sections:
1️⃣ Features — What’s essential for a kid-friendly news website?
2️⃣ Scope — What specific features and flows would I actually design and prototype? (I wasn’t building the whole website, after all!)
3️⃣ Style Guide — The tricky part: typography, colors, icons, and illustrations.

The Color Conundrum 🎨

The first two steps were relatively easy because I had a clear idea in mind. But deciding the style guide? That’s where things got interesting.
I wanted the UI to feel modern and engaging but didn’t want to go down the usual “bold and poppy” color palette that many kids’ websites use. My website would be text-heavy, so I needed a balance attractive, engaging, yet not overwhelming.
My first attempt? Glassmorphism with gradients. Sounds fancy, right? Well, it backfired. The gradient background overpowered the content, leaving me with no color options for the foreground except dark gray (since black created too much contrast). Then, I tried flat colors, but they felt dull.
Finally, after much trial and error, I found the sweet spot a balanced mix of gradient and subtle colors that made the content stand out without being visually exhausting.

Making It Interactive (But Not Overwhelming)

Since my audience was kids aged 6–11, micro-interactions had to feel familiar, not experimental. I kept them intuitive simple hover effects, playful but functional animations.
One fun addition? A notebook-style UI for the “Write a Blog” feature bringing a touch of the physical world into the digital experience.

'Write your own blog' page

Lessons Learned? Simplicity Is Key.

Designing for kids isn’t about throwing in bright colors and cute icons it’s about clarity, familiarity, and engagement. It’s about removing complexity while keeping things fun.
And most importantly, it’s about never underestimating your tiny users they’re smarter than we think. 😉