First, Last, Everything Esther Huybreghts, Co-Founder of Pok Pok
Sep 30, 2025
Esther Huybreghts, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Pok Pok, shares her journey of creating the award-winning Pok Pok Playground app. She discusses her early inspiration from a Fujifilm camera and how a simple idea grew into a significant business. Esther emphasizes the importance of calm design in the app to support imaginative play and how her ADHD shaped its features. She also reflects on the challenges of negative feedback and her commitment to representing diverse families in the app, all while envisioning its future growth.
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How A Toy Camera Sparked A Career
- Esther received a quirky Fujifilm Digital Q1 camera as a teen and taught herself photography and video editing with iMovie and Photoshop.
- That early hands-on experimenting launched her creative path toward animation and app design.
Toys Over Games For Imagination
- Esther differentiates toys from games: toys are open-ended tools for imagination, games impose rules and goals.
- Pok Pok's 'toys' are intentionally open, letting children set their own challenges and narratives.
A Family Need Became A Product Prototype
- Esther and her husband prototyped Pok Pok to entertain their toddler while caring for a newborn and to create a gentle screen experience.
- A janky prototype won Snowman team's interest at GDC and set Pok Pok on the path to becoming a product.
