LEGO, in association with Reaktor, has opened a pop-up playground that introduces kids to coding in a fun and gender-neutral environment. The LEGO coding school, free and open to participants aged 7-12, taught basic programming commands by showing children how to use them in guiding LEGO robots through an obstacle course in the airport's main terminal.
To help the kids direct the robots, Reaktor designed and developed a hyper-simple app that in eight basic commands shows how technology can easily connect the physical and digital realms.
"If we associate coding with fun, the code school has succeeded," commented Reaktor's Design Director Marjo Mansén. The initiative represents the coming together of two major Nordic companies for educational good. The LEGO Group's mission is to inspire the builders of tomorrow through creative play, while Reaktor has been running coding schools for children since 2014.
Both companies also stand for Nordic values and wanted to present coding as a gender-neutral activity. That was also one of the guiding principles in designing the visual identity for the school. "Coding still tends to be considered somehow a more masculine thing to do," explained Matti Tuominen, Reaktor's Art Director. "We tried to avoid those outdated stereotypical visual cues that a certain product is either for boys or girls." For example, the school's primary typeface aims to communicate a slightly technological, even futuristic, feel that at the same time appears warm and inviting. The color scheme is broad too, ranging in everything from light pink to turquoise to black.
Photo: Courtesy of Reaktor