Be Buji
Building a fictional world that teaches kids real mental wellbeing tools
Context
Be Buji is a digital wellbeing programme for Dutch primary school children aged 10 to 12, developed with orthopedagogues. It's an interactive, gamified world where kids work through modules on emotions, social skills, mindset and physical wellbeing, guided by their own avatar and a cast of characters. I joined through &ranj, a game-design agency. I first did a two-day concept sprint with a game designer, sketching the first flows and interface concepts, and later joined the execution phase once the concept was set. I worked in a multidisciplinary team with a game designer, a visual designer, front-end and back-end developers, a product owner and a PM.
Problem
Around 30% of Dutch young people experience mental health issues. Schools need something preventive they can run without bringing in external specialists. But existing wellbeing material for kids tends to be dry or clinical, or depends on how well a teacher can facilitate it. The challenge was to make abstract ideas, like recognising your thoughts, handling overstimulation and regulating emotions, tangible and engaging enough that a 10-year-old would actually want to do it.
Process
Together with the team I co-created the Be Buji world: environments built around each wellbeing domain, like the "prikkelbos" for overstimulation and the "gedachtenwolken" for thought patterns, with characters for emotion, mindset, physical and social wellbeing. My focus was the system. How do kids move between modules? How do four domains hold together as one world instead of four separate mini-apps? And how does each exercise work, so a 9 to 12-year-old understands it without any instructions? Every decision weighed two stakeholders. Kids needed to feel safe enough to honestly share how they feel, so privacy came first. Teachers needed insight into their pupils' progress, provided through abstract data collected in the background. An interactive thermometer for example, brings both together. Kids check in before and after each module, and the difference shows up in the teachers' dashboard. I designed it to feel engaging and logical: the avatar animates and the background changes as a child drags it. I also helped prepare the user tests and ran them at primary schools myself: guiding children, asking questions and observing how they used it. It was one of the most meaningful parts of the project.
Proposal
We delivered a cohesive system for the product that brings the theory and experience of all modules together. Containing lesson formats with a fixed start, middle and closing, reusing interaction pattens and building blocks across lessons. An atomic design system covering typography, buttons, colour and icons. Flow logic that connects onboarding, avatar selection and lesson progression. And the mapping of psychological principles behind each step. We iterated toward MVP lessons that could be tested directly with children in primary schools.
Result
Be Buji shipped as a finished product and has been rolling out to Dutch primary schools since March 2026. It was covered on BNR Nieuwsradio. Watching kids actually use it and learn from it during user testing was one of the most meaningful moments of the project for me.
Lara is a strategic designer with a strong branding focus, who looks beyond functionality alone and is able to clearly explain the reasoning behind her design decisions. She brings a great deal of structure and cohesion to projects, making it easier for teams to iterate and collaborate with more clarity. What I find especially strong is that she combines design quality with clear communication, a strong sense of the client journey, and an understanding of the different interests within a project. She is also very easy to work with: clear about time, scope, and expectations, and highly organized in the way she works. To me, her value lies not only in what she designs, but also in the calm, direction, and consistency she brings to a team.
Wouter Krijger
CEO &ranj
