Common Sense Media
Challenge
Common Sense had something most organizations working in this space didn't which is genuine credibility with parents and deep relationships with schools. Their research team was producing thorough, rigorous assessments of AI tools and their risks. The problem was that the depth working in their favor in a research context was working against them everywhere else.
Parents weren't reading the reports. The information was there, it just wasn't designed to be found. The challenge was figuring out how to honor the integrity of the research while making it possible for a busy parent, or a classroom teacher, to walk away actually understanding something.
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Designing for Trust
The work spanned two connected fronts, all in service of the same goal of making Common Sense's AI expertise feel as accessible and reliable as their film ratings. The first obstacle was the content itself. Common Sense had the research, parents just couldn't find it or get through it. We redesigned the pathways into their AI resources and restructured how findings were presented, turning dense reports into scannable formats that surfaced the most critical information upfront. What had been walls of text became something a parent could read in a few minutes and act on.
The second was the classroom. Because Common Sense is deeply embedded in schools, there was an opportunity to meet kids where they already were. We designed Two Truths and AI, a game that challenges students to spot AI-generated content by identifying fake movie posters mixed in with real ones. It feels like a game and works like a lesson.
Impact
Common sense is not only the number one resources for parents its also used by 1.4 million educators every year. 70% of U.S. schools use their Digital Literacy curriculum. That's the audience this work was built for and the trust it was built to extend.
AI literacy is still an emerging space, but the foundation we helped build positions Common Sense to do for AI what they've spent decades doing for media and hopefully give parents a system they can actually trust, as well as giving their kids a way to start developing instincts for a world increasingly shaped by AI.
