Chinestory is a Chinese-language learning system: storybook, workbook, and companion app, built around the idea that pictographs aren't just characters to memorize; they're stories waiting to be told. I spent two years bringing Dr. Haiyan Fan's teaching methodology from concept into a complete, publishable product: developing the visual system for the pictograph storytelling method, designing the book and workbook for pacing and retention, and designing the companion app experience.

The Challenge:

• Chinese characters are traditionally taught through repetition and rote memorization; a method that's effective for some learners but creates a steep, discouraging entry point for beginners, especially younger learners picking up the language for the first time.

• Dr. Fan's methodology reframed characters as pictographs with visual, story-driven origins; a genuinely different way to teach and remember them, but the concept existed as teaching notes and research, not as a designed, usable learning product.

• The system needed to work in two very different formats at once: a physical storybook for deep, focused learning, and a companion app for the kind of quick, repeated practice that actually builds retention.

• The design had to hold together for a true beginner audience: anyone opening this book had zero assumed knowledge of Chinese, so pacing, sequencing, and visual hierarchy weren't just aesthetic choices; they were the difference between a concept landing or not.

My Role:

I was the sole designer on this project, working directly with Dr. Fan over two years to translate her teaching methodology into a complete design system spanning print and digital. My background teaching English as a second language through the JET Programme in Japan turned out to be directly relevant here. I'd spent years on the other side of this exact problem, watching what happened when new language concepts were introduced too densely, too quickly, or without enough context to stick. That experience shaped nearly every decision on this project.

Design Process:

Designing the Pictograph System

The core of Dr. Fan's method is that many Chinese characters originated as literal pictures: a mountain character that looks like a mountain, a tree character built from a simplified trunk-and-branches shape. My job was to design a consistent visual language that made these origins immediately legible, so a learner could see the connection between the picture and the character rather than being told about it. This meant developing a repeatable style that could scale across dozens of characters without becoming visually repetitive or so varied that it stopped reading as one coherent system.

Storybook: Designing for Pace, Not Just Page

This was the most technical design challenge on the project, and the one my ESL teaching background shaped most directly. Beginning learners disengage fast when a page feels crowded or when a new concept arrives before the last one has settled. I was deliberate about whitespace as a functional tool, not a stylistic one: every spread was paced to introduce a single new idea, give it room, and let the story carry the learner to the next page rather than stacking new vocabulary on top of itself. Layout, type size, and the rhythm of illustration-to-text ratio were all tested and adjusted against the question "would a first-time learner feel like they're keeping up right now?"

App Design: Reinforcing, Not Replacing, the Book

The companion app was designed to extend the book's pacing model into a practice tool a learner could return to daily, rather than a separate learning experience with its own logic. The user can toggle between the story and the characters presented, see how they correspond with other characters built upon their foundation and listen to pronunciation and practice writing.

Result

Chinestory was designed to completion end-to-end: storybook, workbook, and app, and the storybook is published and available through Amazon. Dr. Fan later presented the underlying teaching methodology in a TED Talk, a strong external validation of the core idea this design system was built to support.

The Chinestory book was never actively marketed or promoted after publishing, and the app was never brought to market, so I don't have usage or sales data to point to. What I can point to is the design work itself: a from-scratch visual system for teaching pictographs, a print product built around real pedagogical pacing rather than generic layout conventions, and a companion app designed to extend that same logic digitally; all built in close, sustained collaboration with a subject-matter expert over two years.

What I learned: the strongest design work doesn't guarantee a product gets the go-to-market push it needs. That's a reminder I carry into how I think about scope and success criteria on projects now. I ask earlier and more directly about what happens after design and development wrap, and who owns getting a finished product in front of real users.