Panda ExpressLunar New Year Curriculum

  • Website
  • UX Design
  • Animation

Background/Objective

  • Website
  • UX Design
  • Animation

Panda Express, America’s largest Asian restaurant chain, is committed to spreading cultural awareness through education. Every year, their operations personnel visit thousands of schools across the country to teach students about the traditions of the Lunar New Year (LNY).

During the pandemic, with classroom visits no longer possible, Panda wanted to continue their educational mission through an engaging online curriculum that students, teachers and operations could use from anywhere.

Planning

As long-time partners of Panda Express, we were asked to create a website and curriculum that would teach students about LNY in a fun and engaging way.

We researched and explored several themes, imagining a digital experience built on eight core activities – consistent with a lucky number in Chinese culture.

  • Trivia Dragon
  • Global Traditions
  • Animals of the Zodiac
  • Food Symbolism
  • Celebration Game
  • Lantern Festival
  • Red Envelope Luck
  • Chinese Symbols

The activities would be accessible from one central “Hub”, where teachers could also order food and meal vouchers for their students, or enroll in other community programs such as school fundraisers.

Design

We created a visual world consistent with Panda’s existing brand colors and style, along with the traditions of the Lunar New Year. In addition, we introduced a few vibrant new colors that would complement the aesthetic and appeal to kids.

We presented a series of hand-drawn sketches and wireframes to convey our ideas to the client, then used these concepts to create customized characters, icons, and environments. Using animation, we added dynamic elements to fully bring the immersive experience to life.

colors
activities
lunar
tags

Technology

We custom built the LNY site from the ground up, using JavaScript to power the interactive quizzes and parallax effects. The eight-lesson curriculum was integrated into a larger ‘Community Programs Hub’ that simplified many operations functions including event registration, food ordering, coupon management, and help desk ticketing.

macbook

Outcome

The LNY site enabled Panda Express to deliver on its committment to education and community outreach, despite the limitations of social distancing. To date, the site has reached hundreds of thousands of students at thousands of schools across the country!

More Case Studies