Gourdians of the Galaxy is a browser-based creative reflection tool in which six pumpkin characters share a pumpkin pun and a two-step draw-and-write mission. It was designed for a Halloween door, where a QR code leads trick-or-treaters and their families to it, and was built to stay useful well beyond that night.
The tool was given a single job: to turn a short, joyful moment into a creative activity that can be carried home. Beyond the doorstep on Halloween night, the app was intended for Oki Pie Lab Workshops, and can be used in classrooms and quiet evenings at home! All messages and missions are pre-written. No AI is used in generating live messages, no account is needed and no data is collected.
Learning experience design
Each visit was designed as a small intermodal arc: a moment of humor, then drawing, then storytelling and reflection. The tool is aimed at children ages 5 to 10, but no age range is shown, since older children and adults are also welcome.
Intentions became characters
Six intentions were chosen: Brave, Kind, Curious, Calm, Proud and Growing. Each was given its own Gourdian, so that choosing an intention feels like choosing a guide rather than ticking a label.
Humor opens the door
Every message begins with a pumpkin or gourd pun. Puns were used as a low-stakes, cute, shareable entry point!
Missions move from drawing to writing
Each Gourdian holds six missions, 36 in total. Every mission is built as two linked steps, so that the writing grows out of the drawing instead of standing beside it:
DRAW A single, concrete image to make, such as a tiny pumpkin about to try something big
WRITE Three short parts:
Name it. The pumpkin in the drawing is given a name
Tell its story. Three or four guiding questions shape a short story: what happens first, what is hard, how it ends
Think about it. One gentle question turns the story back toward the child, such as “When have you been brave like your pumpkin?”
Reflection is offered through a character
Questions are asked about the pumpkin first and only then about the child. This distance was chosen so that reflection feels safe and playful. All reflection questions were kept light and positive, so they suit a kitchen table or a classroom circle.
Every child can take part
The line “Write it, or tell it to a grown-up” was added to every mission, so that children who cannot yet write can tell their stories aloud.
The doorstep moment and the take-home moment were designed separately
A doorstep visit lasts seconds, so only the pun is meant to be enjoyed there. The mission is meant for later and can be saved as a phone-sized card.
Children can make their own Gourdian
A Make Your Own Gourdian section invites children to create a new character after meeting the crew. It lists simple supplies (paper, a pencil, crayons or markers) and six steps: choose a power, draw its shape, pick its color, name it, write its power line and tell its story. The power line follows the same pattern used in the Gourdians' own story, “___, the ___, helps you ___,” so a child's character can join the crew in the same words. This step reflects research on transmedia making, in which children's engagement with characters inspires their own creative production.
Character design
The crew was built around Pumplekin, an existing pumpkin character whose drawing is used unchanged. Five new Gourdians were derived from him so that all six read as one family.
One family, six silhouettes
Pumplekin's legs, arms, stem and face are shared by every Gourdian. Only the head silhouette and the colors were changed. Every head keeps Pumplekin's signature three-section construction: a center section flanked by two side sections, with the center's edges forming the seams. The silhouettes were broadly inspired by real pumpkin and squash shapes, and each was matched to its character's personality.
Pumplekin, the Brave - The original round shape, in pumpkin orange. Pumplekin helps you try new things, even when your knees wobble.
Honeynut, the Kind - Tall side sections with a dipped center give a soft heart shape, in pink. Honeynut sends warm, cozy feelings for you to share with others.
Gourdon, the Curious - A tall gourd that narrows toward the top, like a neck stretching to look around, in green. Gourdon fills your head with questions worth asking.
Butternut, the Calm - A wide, low shape that feels grounded and steady, in blue. Butternut helps busy thoughts slow down and float like stardust.
Sir Squash-a-Lot, the Proud - A tall shape with straight, upright sides, in gold. Sir Squash-a-Lot reminds you to shine about the things you've done.
Pip, the Growing - A small, round, compact shape, drawn smaller overall, in cream. Pip cheers you on as you get a little better every day.
Names mix puns and real squash - Names were chosen to be easy for young children to say. Honeynut and Butternut are real squash varieties. Gourdon hides “gourd” inside a familiar name, Sir Squash-a-Lot gives the Proud Gourdian a knightly swagger, and Pip, a word for a small seed, suits the smallest one.
A short backstory ties the crew together - The Gourdians are described as magical pumpkin creatures that grow in a stardust pumpkin patch far out in space. Whenever someone sets out a pumpkin, the Gourdians see it glowing like a tiny orange lighthouse, close their eyes, breathe, and beam good vibes to whoever is nearby. The story was written so that it works on Halloween night and anywhere a pumpkin appears.
UX design
The experience was designed as one short loop that can be completed in under a minute and repeated as often as wanted.
A Gourdian is chosen with a single tap, and every other screen leads back to the lineup.
Choosing a Gourdian
The six Gourdians stand in a lineup with their names and intentions beneath them. When one is tapped, the others fade back and the chosen Gourdian glides to the center. The same drawing is moved, not replaced, so its face and pose stay continuous.
A meditative pause
The chosen Gourdian closes its eyes, raises its arms and takes one slow breath while a glow in its color pulses behind it. The text reads, for example, “Honeynut is listening to the stars…”. The pause lasts about five and a half seconds. It was kept as a small ritual that models a calm breath, and it also builds anticipation for the message.
The message and the mission
The Gourdian opens its eyes, raises its arms in a “ta-da” and shares its pun, and the two-step mission appears below. Messages do not repeat until all six of a Gourdian's missions have been shown.
Taking it home
A Save my card button turns the mission into a 1080 × 1920 image. On phones, the share sheet is opened so the card can be saved to photos. On computers, it is downloaded. Text is resized automatically so the longest missions still fit.
Getting around
Ask again repeats the meditation for a new mission from the same Gourdian. Meet another Gourdian glides the character back into the lineup. The title returns to the lineup from any screen. About the Gourdians and Make Your Own Gourdian open as panels and return the visitor to where they were.
Accessibility
Everything a Gourdian says is announced to screen readers, and each Gourdian is labeled by name and intention
All controls can be reached by keyboard, with a visible focus outline
Tap targets are at least 44 pixels tall
When reduced motion is turned on, the breathing, gliding and stardust are switched off and the meditation is shortened
UI design
Color and Type
A deep-space look was chosen so that the pumpkins glow like the orange lighthouses in their story. The whole screen is given to the experience, with orange stardust drifting slowly outward from the center in a gentle galaxy swirl. Orbitron type was paired with Quicksand to contrast geometric, space-age face, for the title, labels and buttons - and rounded and very readable face for the puns, missions and story text that young readers sound out. Colors are varied for background, main text, quiet text, accent-stardust-buttons, title glow and highlights.
Animation
Motion was used to make the characters feel alive and to model calm:
Idle breathing - In the lineup, each Gourdian breathes on its own rhythm and blinks at its own random moments, every three to six seconds, with an occasional double blink
Meditation - The body swells gently on each slow breath, and the hands rise and fall with it
Waking up - The eyes open outward from the closed eyelid line, so the closed and open eyes read as one continuous eye. The small “o” mouth squashes wide and melts into the heart-shaped mouth, and the smile stretches open from the middle
Arms - Arms lower to a neutral pose in the lineup, float up when meditation begins, and swing into a “ta-da” when the message arrives
Layout
The design fills the full screen at every size:
On phones, the lineup is shown in two rows of three
On phones turned sideways, all six Gourdians fit in one row and the title collapses onto one line
On tablets and computers, the lineup is shown in one large row, and after a message the Gourdian glides aside so the mission can be read beside it
Workshop Context
This tool is used as a secondary exploratory activity in the Gourdians paper puppet workshop, where participants draw, paint, cutout, and assemble their own unique Gourdians and write a story about them. The workshop also offers participants additional materials such as a coloring sheet, infographic about various types of gourds, a small backstory about the gourdians and a story template for writing their own (Pixar Story Spine).
Examples of paper puppets from the workshop:
Sonia’s Reflection
It’s a personal advocacy mission for me to make October/ Halloween festivities for kids more about creating pumpkin-themed artifacts as a form of self-expression, instead of over-consuming sugar and sinking deeper into the commercialization of holidays. Every year instead of giving out candy for Halloween, I give out pumpkin-themed paper puppets, stories, and activity sheets packaged together. I also experiment with other sustainable giveaways such as whittled toys, needle-felted toys, embroidered finger puppets, painted wooden bead jewelry or recycled PLA 3d printed toys. Similar to the Gourdians Claude artifact, I try to host workshops where people can get together and design both paper and digital expressions of their creativity to celebrate the beauty of autumn!
If you’re interested in collaborating for a Gourdians of the Galaxy workshop at your organization - please don’t hesitate to reach out!
