Ed-TechLive

Katsby Campus

A stock market simulation game for elementary schoolers — designed twice, each version solving what the last couldn't.

Role: Solo Product Designer (Contract)
Team: Web Developer, Designer (Me), Content Editor
Year: Mar – Jun 2026
Skills: Project planning, UX research, End-to-end product design, Design systems, UI design

Long story short

I designed a new way to teach kids financial decision-making through play

As a contract solo designer at Katsby, I designed Katsby Campus end-to-end to create a classroom stock-market simulation for elementary schoolers.

Problem

Most kids meet money as something abstract, with no way to practice real decisions against a living market.

Strategy

A premium classroom program: mock investing on real market data, curriculum drawn from global economic media, and expert literacy reports that make each child’s thinking visible.

Impact

Korea’s first youth financial-decision program
Implemented in 5+ international schools and elementary schools in Korea

Overview

How to turn kids who ask to buy an iPhone into kids who want to buy stocks

Katsby Campus is a stock-market simulation for elementary schoolers. I designed it end-to-end as the solo product designer, twice — V1 for younger students, V2 a full redesign once real classrooms exposed what the first version couldn’t hold.

Problem

In an AI era, kids still need financial self-defense

From math to coding to AI, kids keep learning new tools, but not how to think strategically. What they need now is the ability to select the right information and communicate with clear logic.

Solution

What if elementary students learn finance through English class?

The first version proved the concept, but classroom use exposed three issues: a confusing buy/sell flow, a visual style that read as too childish for older kids, and portfolio data that was hard to reach when students needed it most.

V2 rebuilt the buy/sell flow into a clearer, more direct path, matured the visual language so it respected older students, and solved the data problem with a persistent side panel — portfolio status visible on every screen, never more than a glance away.

Campus dashboard

V2 trading surface with matured visuals and a persistent portfolio side panel — status never more than a glance away.

Core Flows

Making value make sense

Kids don't arrive with financial literacy, so 'company value' is abstract. I introduced a revenue metaphor that grounds the idea in something tangible, letting students intuitively feel why a company is worth more or less without a vocabulary lesson first.

Mini quiz

A short check that connects classroom play to why a company is worth more or less — without a vocabulary lecture first.

Research

From login to landing page

Because it ships into real classrooms, the experience had to hold up from the very first second to the business case behind it. I designed the full surface area — the QR login flow, the waiting room, the unskippable onboarding, the team-based game loop, the reward systems, and the landing page that sells it.

Waiting room

Keeps the class synced before the game starts.

3-step onboarding

Unskippable modal that orients every student before play.

Team-based game loop

Collaborative rounds that mirror real market dynamics.

PlayBook

Curriculum spreads that ground each round in real economic media and key terms.

Round results

Post-round outcomes that make market moves visible to the whole class.

Learnings & Impact

What shipping twice into real classrooms taught me

Classroom reality beats the first brief

V1 proved the concept, but live classrooms exposed the real product. Designing again with that evidence — not assumptions — is what made V2 hold up for older students and tighter class periods.

Visual tone is an age decision

A cute visual language won younger kids and lost older ones. Maturing the UI without losing playfulness taught me that “for kids” is not one aesthetic — age bands need different respect.

Put critical data where decisions happen

Students needed portfolio status while deciding, not buried three taps away. The persistent side panel came from watching that friction — glanceable data as a design requirement, not a nice-to-have.