by abduzeedo
Explore how Mighty Big Love uses minimalist bilingual alphabet design to bridge English and Spanish through a custom typeface and cohesive visual system.
Jessenia and Greg Gayle faced a common hurdle for many parents raising kids in a dual-language home. Standard educational toys often treat translation as an afterthought, leading to visual and linguistic confusion. When a child sees the letter "Z" for "Zebra" but hears "Cebra" in Spanish, the connection breaks. To solve this, the duo launched Mighty Big Love and developed their flagship product, El Board. This wooden alphabet puzzle uses a unique bilingual alphabet design where every chosen word starts with the same letter in both English and Spanish.
The project avoids the cluttered aesthetic of traditional children's toys. Instead, it adopts a minimalist approach focused on clarity and soul. Greg Gayle designed a bespoke typeface specifically for this project. This custom lettering is bold and playful, yet it maintains a clean structure that aids early character recognition. The choice to build a new font rather than use an existing one ensures the personality of the brand remains authentic and consistent across the entire A to Zeta spectrum.
Visual storytelling on El Board relies on original linear illustrations. Each icon features consistent line work to create a unified visual system. These clean forms help young minds process information without unnecessary distraction. By stripping away the fluff, the design highlights the core relationship between the letter, the image, and the dual-language terms. This intentionality reflects the modern multicultural home where design and utility must coexist.
The project succeeds because it treats bilingualism as a primary design constraint rather than a secondary feature. The Gayle's used their Latin and Caribbean roots to inform a product that feels modern and personal. It is a study in how editorial design principles can improve physical learning tools. By focusing on a cohesive system from the start, they created a tool that sparks curiosity and builds confidence in young learners.
This work shows that great design often starts with a personal need. The result is a project that feels "us," as Jessenia notes, reflecting a specific cultural identity through a universal minimalist lens. Every detail, from the wood texture to the custom curves of the letters, serves the purpose of making culture part of the daily conversation. It is a masterclass in purposeful bilingual branding.
Credits: https://mightybiglove.com
