Petting Zoo

Designer, illustrator extraordinaire, and dad Christoph Neimann is well-known as a witty visualist who is fast building an impressive portfolio of child-centric media including books (I Lego N.Y..), prints, and now apps. This is all in addition to his regular practice as an illustrator and columnist for the New York Times, New Yorker, MoMA, and Google, to just name a few clients on his standout list.

Petting Zoo is a simple, interactive book that encourages kids to play with Neimann’s animal drawings in unexpected ways—crocodiles’ teeth become playable notes, a panda bear’s eyes become abstract meltable blobs of paint, etc. Most of the 20 or so animals contain two or three basic looping animations triggered by touch. While there’s no gameplay or progression, the app is all about visual delight. Many very young kids will play the app repetitively, simply enjoying the cause and effect (though I suspect many older kids won’t return once they’ve figured out all the animation triggers). Either way, the app is engaging eye candy and worth a spin.