In one morning at a fair, 34 families left their contact details in exchange for an AI-made creature
The project
Here the client is me: I set it up for AKUMAYA, one of my projects, a technology academy for kids that had a booth at a fair with families. At a fair, every booth hands out flyers and asks for your email in exchange for nothing. I wanted the kid to make something with their own hands, to take a result away with them, and for leaving contact details to be the natural way of taking it home.
That is where Criaturas Inc. came from: in one minute, the kid designs a creature and the AI draws it.
The problem
- At a fair booth you get a few seconds of attention, and you are competing for them with every other booth.
- A "leave us your email" form gives the family nothing. Few people fill it in, and those who do don't remember afterward who you were.
- A technology academy for kids can't be explained with a flyer. It makes sense when the kid does something and it works.
- They are minors: you can't ask for just any data or let the AI generate just anything.
What I built
Five questions, all answered by tapping the screen
The kid chooses what their creature is —monster, robot, alien or dragon—, its colors, its personality, its accessories and what it likes to do. There is nothing to type. It works on the booth's tablets or on the parents' phone by scanning a code.
The AI draws the creature, names it and writes it a story
In about twenty seconds a unique creature appears, with a made-up name and a two-sentence story. It doesn't come from a catalog: it is generated on the spot from what the kid has chosen.
The email is the way to take it home
The kid sees their creature first. Then they are asked where to send it, and that is where the adult leaves their email and, if they want, what they are interested in for their child: programming, robotics, digital art or AI. A message arrives with the image, the story and an "AI Creator" diploma to print, with a button to message the academy on WhatsApp.
A wall that gets it shared
The creatures can be shared and can receive applause on a public wall. Reaching a certain number of claps earns a prize. It is not a ranking, so no kid ends up last, and anyone who arrives through a shared link can create their own.
Designed for minors from the start
What the kid taps never reaches the AI as is: the instructions are assembled only from pieces written and reviewed in advance, so nothing inappropriate can come out. Only the adult's data is stored, with express consent. From the kid, at most, an optional nickname that does not appear on the public wall.
If something fails, the contact isn't lost
If the image takes too long, the contact is saved anyway and the creature is delivered later by email. Failed sends are retried automatically. When the event is over, a dashboard shows the contacts and what the kids chose, and lets you export all of it.
The result
- In one morning at the fair, about four hours, around 50 creatures were created and 34 families left their contact details: two out of three.
- All with a single booth and with nobody asking for emails: the family left their contact details in order to receive the creature.
- Each contact comes with more than an email: what the family is interested in and which creature their child made, which is what opens the conversation afterward.
- The family leaves with something to show, with the academy's name on it, instead of a flyer.
- It is set up to be repeated: changing events means changing the name, the dates and the prizes.
What it would take to set it up in your business
- Deciding what the visitor takes away: the idea works with anything that can be created in a minute and that people feel like showing off.
- Your brand, the tone and what you want to know about whoever leaves their contact details.
- A tablet or a QR code wherever the people are: a booth, a store, an event.
- No technical team and no installation. It opens in the browser.
