The DE Characters help students feel welcome, connected, and joyful while in DE. They learn alongside the student and lighten the mood of any challenging lesson.

Meet the DE Characters

Disco

Disco is fun-loving and always there for you. Her role is to be welcoming and helpful, and to make you laugh. She loves to bring you what you need to get your work done. You can find Disco helping you onboard onto our apps or sitting quietly by for hours as Mei conducts experiments.

Alert | Helpful | Ready

Disco

Biodata Readout

Functions:

Onboarding
Setting up classrooms
Setting up profile
First time user experience
Tutorials/How To
Offering to help
Bringing you things
Offering templates/Quick Starts
Playful reflection of your actions

Learns Through:

Smelling
Practice
Feedback from last time

You’ll Find Disco:

Ready to play with you!
Switching gears on command
Bringing something helpful
Protecting the Keiki
Offering to help
Guarding a treat or treasure but willing to give it begrudgingly
Dreaming about catching prey

Tools:

Backpack
Notepad
Whiteboard

Communication:

Disco does not talk or have thought bubbles
She communicates through objects that she brings
Tail wags
Nose wiggles
Makes dog sounds

When She Grows Up:

Disco would like everything to stay the same as it is now. Her only wish is to cuddle the robots in a big puppy pile. She thinks that would be extra nice.

It May Surprise You:

Nothing! Disco is just what she seems.

Loves:

Helping
Running outside
Birds
Organization and lists
Your approval
Chasing
Cuddling

Struggles With:

Saving her buried treats or treasures for later (She digs them up right away).
Curriculum - while Disco enjoys being in proximity to academic pursuits, she personally prefers social elements to intellectual
Delayed gratification - she can wait, but it hurts.

Learning Related Emotions

Here are typical poses and expressions that Disco will exhibit as she feels through four scenarios during the learning experience. These relate helpfully to the students’ own feelings as they succeed and struggle in their own learning journey.

I've got this! I can teach someone else.

I'm pretty confident.

I think I understand, but I might need a little more practice.

Help me!

Eduardo

Eduardo is a curious, good guy navigating the teenage life. He gets swept away in topics that interest him and is unapologetic about his passions. He is an adventurer and avid skier. His favorite subjects are math and anything technology related.

Eduardo

Courageous | Stoked | Questioning

Biodata Readout

Functions:

Fist bumping you for showing up
Helping you get found if you’re lost
Anything Math
Latest technology
Digging deeper: Can’t stop nerding out on stuff!
Asking the next question
Modeling confidence
Modeling independence
Healthy skepticism

Learns Through:

Research
Focus
Reading

You’ll Find Eduardo:

First in line to try a new thing
Mobilizing friends
Thinking that anything is possible
Staying up late to keep reading
Being an early adopter

Tools:

Rubik’s cube
Graph paper
Shades

When He Grows Up:

Eduardo wants to be in charge of something big. And maybe set a world record.

It May Surprise You:

Eduardo is an avid skier - he uses a sit ski and is a shredder on the slopes.
He has also dabbled in paragliding.
He loves to joke around with his grandpa. (Abuelo is his gramps. You didn’t know?)

Loves:

Exploring new topics
Bringing people together
Math (he finds it relaxing)
Adrenaline

Struggles With:

Remembering to take a break
Irreverence toward norms.

Learning Related Emotions

Here are typical poses and expressions that Eduardo will exhibit as he feels through four scenarios during the learning experience. These relate helpfully to the students’ own feelings as they succeed and struggle in their own learning journey.

I've got this! I can teach someone else.

I'm pretty confident.

I think I understand, but I might need a little more practice.

Help me!

Victor

Victor is a dreamer. He is deeply curious and spends lots of time wondering about different things. Victor is most closely associated with learning about the wonders of the universe. He’s a good friend and cares about feelings. He is quiet but articulate when expressing himself.

Empathetic | Engrossed | Daydreamer

Victor

Biodata Readout

Functions:

Curiosity
Science
Considering different perspectives
Social Emotional Learning
Showing you it’s fine to pause and think
Inquiry and encouraging big questions
Space

Learns Through:

Thinking
Quiet reflection

You’ll Find Victor:

Laying in the grass watching ants
Daydreaming
Considering all the angles

Tools:

Magnifying glass
Telescope
Spiral bound notebook

When He Grows Up:

Victor would like to study where Earth came from.

It May Surprise You:

Victor daydreams every single day.
Even though he’s quiet, Victor is articulate.

Loves:

Learning different perspectives
How things are connected
Thinking about space
Pizza
Butterflies
Friends

Struggles With:

Doing anything quickly
Getting ahead of himself
Hearing the teacher (or anyone) when he’s deep in thought

Learning Related Emotions

Here are typical poses and expressions for Victor that he would exhibit as he feels through four scenarios during the learning experience. These are helpful to relate to student’s own feelings as they succeed and struggle in their own learning journey.

I've got this! I can teach someone else.

I think I understand, but I might need a little more practice.

I'm pretty confident.

Help me!

Zoe  

Zoe is out front and can’t contain her enthusiasm. She is a born leader and loves to organize her friends. She is social and full of ideas. Zoe is always dancing or moving. Her favorite subjects in school are Social Studies and World History.

Zoe

Confident | Lively | Imaginative

Biodata Readout

Functions:

Helping you feel like anything is possible
Making it a game
Big sister figure
Showing you it’ll be fun
Instructions/the rules (as a peer)
Suggesting projects
Encouraging you to jump right in
Helping others
Engaging with social issues
History

Learns Through:

Trying it out right away—she is not afraid to fail
Talking

You’ll Find Zoe:

Turning it into a game
Proposing a big idea
Jumping into action
Organizing teams
Being attentive

Tools:

Highlighter
Map (homemade)
Project-making stuff (tape, spring, rope, scissors, pipe cleaners, glue)

When She Grows Up:

She hopes to start a make-your- own bubble gum store or be a dance teacher.

It May Surprise You:

Zoe is a good listener.
She likes taking care of younger robots and animals.
She sometimes gets overcome with the giggles. (It’s infectious!)

Loves:

Challenges
Projects
Dancing! (And all movement)
Building creative things

Struggles With:

Jumping to conclusions.
Prioritizing fun (it usually works out). Remembering to make space for others when she’s swept away in the moment.

Learning Related Emotions

Here are typical poses and expressions that Zoe will exhibit as she feels through four scenarios during the learning experience. These relate helpfully to the students’ own feelings as they succeed and struggle in their own learning journey.

I've got this! I can teach someone else.

I think I understand, but I might need a little more practice.

I'm pretty confident.

Help me!

Mei

Mei has a rich internal life. She takes her time and loves to figure out how things work. She’s team STEM all the way. On any given day you may find her taking apart a roomba to see what makes it tick or testing out a new programming language.

Curious | Logical | Introverted

Mei

Biodata Readout

Functions:

Being your pal when you need quiet time to think or refuel
Helping you persevere
Anything STEM
Analysis/yearning to understand
Experimenting
Being curious about how things work
Coding

Learns Through:

Doing
Dissecting

You’ll Find Mei:

Taking apart the vacuum cleaner to see how it works Teaching herself how to code
Analyzing the contents of bear scat
Hiding in the lab supply closet to avoid the kickoff party

Tools:

Microscope
Notebook
Bird whistle

When She Grows Up:

She might become an engineer.
She looks forward to knowing so many baseline things, that she’ll think of brand new questions to ask.

It May Surprise You:

Mei has a mischievous side and likes to play tricks.
She’s really into birds.

Loves:

Patterns
Music
Solving puzzles

Struggles With:

Chaos
Overstimulation
Big groups

Learning Related Emotions

Here are typical poses and expressions that Mei will exhibit as she feels through four scenarios during the learning experience. These relate helpfully to the students’ own feelings as they succeed and struggle in their own learning journey.

I've got this! I can teach someone else.

I think I understand, but I might need a little more practice.

I'm pretty confident.

Help me!

The Keiki

Keiki are joyful and lighthearted little friends. They help you feel brave when venturing into new territory. They love learning together with you as well as learning from you.

The Keiki

Interested | Joyful | Little

Biodata Readout

Functions:

Hold your hand when starting a new or complicated topic (It’s ok, they’re new here too.)
Error states: How did we get here?
Aging down content
Adding playfulness
Eager audience to hear you recap what you learned

Learns Through:

Experiences
5 senses

You’ll Find The Keiki:

Awestruck at simple things that are still new – a loud truck, a babbling brook, a fuzzy caterpillar
Smiling
Staying a while
Savoring feelings
Self-entertaining: walking on the curb to not fall off, kicking pinecones, logrolling, observing grasshoppers
Being “in the moment”

Tools:

Balloon
Stickers
Crayons/Colored Pencils

How Many Keiki Are There?

Nobody really knows.
They are often in a group of 3 to 5. But don’t be fooled! They can also be seen solo and in pairs - and occasionally in larger groups.

When They Grows Up:

The Keiki want to spend their days smelling stuff, feeling lots of soft things, carrying balloons and eating many lollipops.

Communication:

Keiki emote with neon glyphs!
Facial expressions
Tummy screens
Keiki don’t talk
All Keiki giggle
Special relationship with sounds of the natural world (whales, bird chirps, river rushing) They stop in their tracks, angle their ears to hear better. They might make the sound back, then laugh
They understand each other more than we do. They chuckle at each other

It May Surprise You:

Keiki likes to leave a mark–
stickers, a tie of yarn or dandelion seeds.
Keiki use emotive sounds and
visuals, not words.

Pronouns and How to Talk About Keiki

Keiki are nonbinary
They/them/their pronouns
 Keiki often hang in a group
The Keiki don’t have individual names: they are all Keiki
Think Star Trek Borg!
Can say: “The Keiki are a cute group, full of wonder.”
“Hi, little Keiki, you look lost. Do you need help?”
“Look! That Keiki is climbing a tree. I hope they don’t fall.”

Loves:

The company of others
Taking in the world around them Bugs

Struggles With:

Differentiating between
significant and insignificant things – it all seems big.
Theory – Keiki are too little to understand concepts that aren’t simple.
Being literal - don’t always get jokes.
Fear of lightning- are you afraid of it too?

Learning Related Emotions

Here are typical poses and expressions that the Keiki will exhibit as they feel through four scenarios during the learning experience. These relate helpfully to the students’ own feelings as they succeed and struggle in their own learning journey.

I've got this! I can teach someone else.

I'm pretty confident.

I think I understand, but I might need a little more practice.

Help me!

Abuelo

Abuelo is the friendly neighborhood old guy. He’s up for anything that means quality time with the kids. He is an exceptional listener. His favorite topics are health, nutrition, and mindfulness. Abuelo is lightheartedly, telling great jokes covering all DE subject matters.

Amused | Patient | Present

Abuelo

Biodata Readout

Tools:

Snack sack
Sweat band (think RBG working out)

Functions:

Asking how that works again? Use to reiterate instructions/ recap
Being lost - what do ya know, are you lost too?
Health
Nutrition
Mindfulness
Jokes and lighteheartedness
Asking the “dumb” question
Culture

You’ll Find Abuelo:

Listening carefully to a long story from one of the kids Chuckling at his own joke.
Adjusting his antennae so he can hear better.
Avoiding giving an answer and instead asking the right questions so you think of it yourself.

It May Surprise You:

Abuelo was once a proud chef
and is still a gastronome.
Abuelo deeply appreciates
different cultures.
He’s easily moved and can be caught tearing up when looking at art or hearing a story.

Struggles With:

Hearing
Staying awake
Technology “So this ‘internet’ sends invisible information?” “You’re saying we can use GPS instead of this map? I’m not so sure...”
The world moving too fast – he can’t believe the modern things he learns from the kids.

Learns Through:

Actively listening to the kids

Loves:

A good joke
Health and vitality – “Exercise! It keeps the joints strong.” “Vegetables – good for the gut, if you know what I mean.” “Meditation – calms the mind”

Hanging with the kids
Interesting snacks

Learning Related Emotions

Here are typical poses and expressions that Abuelo will exhibit as he feels through four scenarios during the learning experience. These relate helpfully to the students’ own feelings as they succeed and struggle in their own learning journey.

I've got this! I can teach someone else.

I'm pretty confident.

I think I understand, but I might need a little more practice.

Help me!

Examples of the DE Characters in our Products:

Victor helps you build a plant using the key parts of roots, trunk, and leaves in this interactive learning game titled Response to Environment.

Victor helps you build a plant using the key parts of roots, trunk, and leaves in this interactive learning game titled Response to Environment.

The Channel Banner for the Social Studies Need to Know video and Ready to Use Activity series features Zoe using a historic camera and Victor in a Civil War era hat.

The Channel Banner for the Social Studies Need to Know video and Ready to Use Activity series features Zoe using a historic camera and Victor in a Civil War era hat.

For the Social Studies Need to Know Activities, Zoe and Victor dress up in various period clothing with appropriate props to help tell the story.

For the Social Studies Need to Know Activities, Zoe and Victor dress up in various period clothing with appropriate props to help tell the story.

For a Sentence Fix-It series of activities, card designs feature the Keiki alongside drawings in the style of a child’s drawing to give the impression that The Keiki have done the drawings themselves.

For a Sentence Fix-It series of activities, card designs feature the Keiki alongside drawings in the style of a child’s drawing to give the impression that The Keiki have done the drawings themselves.

DE Money created for math lessons on the subject of counting money. These were designed to be printed and cut out so students could use the “money” in the classroom.

DE Money created for math lessons on the subject of counting money. These were designed to be printed and cut out so students could use the “money” in the classroom.

For the early learner (PreK- Kindergarten) story cards we use more of a 2D story book look and feel for the DE Characters.

For the early learner (PreK- Kindergarten) story cards we use more of a 2D story book look and feel for the DE Characters.

Eduardo and Mei help emphasize the activity of reading and writing and lend a cozy, soothing atmosphere to this page layout for young writers.

Eduardo and Mei help emphasize the activity of reading and writing and lend a cozy, soothing atmosphere to this page layout for young writers.

Hands on Activity “Recipe Cards” and a shopping list created for teachers use Disco to help them prepare to teach a classroom lab activity.

Hands on Activity “Recipe Cards” and a shopping list created for teachers use Disco to help them prepare to teach a classroom lab activity.

Hands on Activity “Recipe Cards” created for teachers use Disco to help them prepare to teach a classroom lab activity.

Hands on Activity “Recipe Cards” created for teachers use Disco to help them prepare to teach a classroom lab activity.

Packaging for the DE Science Kits materials feature labels with the DE Character that is suitable for each grade band.

Packaging for the DE Science Kits materials feature labels with the DE Character that is suitable for each grade band.

Disco livens up the homepage of the 4th grade learning app.

Disco livens up the homepage of the 4th grade learning app.

Teachers can select from premade scenes of the DE Characters to label their various classrooms in the Classroom organization area of Discovery Education.

Teachers can select from premade scenes of the DE Characters to label their various classrooms in the Classroom organization area of Discovery Education.

Avatars are available on the My Profile page. Here is a view of the Profile Panel featuring Mei.

Avatars are available on the My Profile page. Here is a view of the Profile Panel featuring Mei.

The Discovery Education’s 404 Page is an animated scene of Victor in his space suit bobbing gently in space, far above the earth.

The Discovery Education’s 404 Page is an animated scene of Victor in his space suit bobbing gently in space, far above the earth.

The Career Connect app connects professionals in the field to classrooms where they can give an overview of their career path. The DE Characters help you book an appointment.

The Career Connect app connects professionals in the field to classrooms where they can give an overview of their career path. The DE Characters help you book an appointment.

Rules of Their World

Below you will find guidance on the best practices for use of the DE Characters from grade-band appropriateness to sizing to rules of their world. Please read and follow our brand guidance closely when it comes to the very precious intellectual property of the Discovery Education Characters to ensure we are all rowing in the same direction as a brand.

Please note we have a more in-depth nonpublic Character Bible available for company employees.

Grade Band Chart

All DE Characters can be used for material of any grade, but there are primary characters for K-2 and 3-5 that should lead the activity or content.

Which Character to Choose?

What do you want to convey & for what age? Examples of logical choices:

Characters at Scale

Below is a chart showing each DE Character at scale in relation to each other. Please check this chart carefully and use it when placing the Characters in your work.

Character Sizing

Characters are only to be seen at a certain size. When they appear on the page layout too small, it’s hard to see their expressions or any of the details.

Characters should never be so big that they overwhelm the needs of the page, whether those needs are to take an action or learn from a photograph.

DON’T: Too small

DO- This proportion is better

Don’t- too big

This proportion is better.

The photo should be the star on a full page layout like this within a lesson, with Mei supporting the narrative.

Tummy Screen Icons

The DE Characters use their tummy screens to express themselves and add context to what’s happening.
A DE Character should always have an icon or “tummycon” on their tummy screen. They should never appear with a blank screen.
The icons are not vector; they are raster. They are drawn in Procreate. Please reach out if you need a new icon and we will make one for you.

Example Icons

Characters and Teaching

Our DE characters should never be used to represent teachers. Only Abuelo would be of the correct age to be a teacher, but that was not his profession.

We never want to suggest “robots as teachers” and want to be sensitive to that possible connection.

Opacity

We never put any opacity over a DE Character - either light or dark. The Characters must be displayed at full saturation, and nothing ever goes on top of them.

Don’t- Never cover a DE Character with a scrim

Fidelity and Usage

We have a number of Top Tier pieces of art that we prefer to save for very special user facing projects. We do not want to cheapen this work by using it everywhere. A general rule of thumb is, if the art has a background and a number of DE Characters, please ask a designer for advice before using it.

Top Tier Art

Please consult with a designer on when and how to use this type of DE Character art.

Everyday Art

Use it with our thanks! Use it to announce free bagels in the kitchen! Use it to thank a teacher on social media!

Color is Baked In

Never change the color of a DE Character. The colors chosen are intentional, historical, and are part of our legally owned intellectual property.

Correct Color

This is the color of Eduardo, and it does not change.

Don’t- Do not change the color of a DE Character.

Subject Matter Colors

Did you know The Keiki are the only DE Characters that have colors directly tied to a subject matter? There is green for Science, purple for Math, and orange for Social Studies.

Social Studies

Science

Math

Communication

The DE Characters communicate in different ways. Below is a handy chart to help ensure you are applying the correct type of communication for each.

Disco communicates through emotive dog sounds and holding objects. Disco does not talk.

Mei communicates through talking, speech bubbles, and her belly screen.

Victor communicates through talking, speech bubbles, and his belly screen.

Zoe communicates through talking, speech bubbles, and her belly screen.

The Keiki communicate through their belly screens, neon glyphs, emotive sounds, and giggling. The Keiki do not talk.

Eduardo communicates through talking, speech bubbles, and his belly screen.

Abuelo communicates through talking and speech bubbles.

Note: Speech bubbles appear when no audio is present.

Their World

Who said robots?
The characters do not generally acknowledge that they are robots. They are treated like humans who grow and learn.

I see you!
The user is sometimes spoken to and “seen”. For example, a character may ask the user, “Do you need help with this? I’m confused too.” Or at the end of a story, they may say, “What would you do?”

No magic

They interact with real world things, phenomena and places. No mystical or fantasy storylines.
Yes imagination!

Time travel
Characters can visit historical and future times.

Impossible visits
They can go to impossible locations like space, microcosmic environments, and under the sea.

Nobody is in charge
They are a posse of pals.

Dress Up

To further reflect their current topic of interest, characters may dress up to really show their spirit and their love of learning. e.g. the Keiki below is dressed up as a tiger while reading Tiger Tales.