Romanian illustrator Andra Badea recently collaborated with Teach for Romania, part of the global Teach For All network, to help schoolchildren understand social-emotional skills through character design.
The project forms part of a nationwide educational program that supports teachers in introducing topics such as self-awareness, emotional regulation and decision-making in the classroom. Because these concepts can feel abstract, especially for younger students, the team needed a visual system that could translate them into something children could easily recognise and connect with.
Badea’s solution was to turn each skill into a character.
The result is The Emotional Explorers Squad, a cast of colourful personalities designed to embody key social-emotional abilities. Each character represents a specific skill such as self-awareness, social awareness, emotional regulation, decision-making or relationship building. By turning these ideas into friendly figures, the program allows children to approach complex emotional topics through storytelling and play.
The design process began with research into how each skill appears in real life. Badea identified one defining trait for each concept and built the characters around that idea. Empathy became the core element of social awareness, while active listening helped shape the character representing relationship skills.
Each member of the squad also received a signature colour and visual identity that reflects its personality.
Beyond character design, Badea developed a full visual system that could scale across multiple educational formats. The illustrations appear throughout guidebooks, posters, classroom materials and video lessons, alongside editorial illustrations created to accompany articles explaining these skills to parents.
The aim was to create characters that feel approachable and memorable, allowing children to form a connection with ideas that might otherwise seem abstract.
“It’s such a joy to work on a project that can have a meaningful impact on the next generation,” Badea says. “We all need more people with good social-emotional skills in this world.”
The collaboration was equally meaningful for the Teach for Romania team.
“She brought a thoughtful, conceptual approach to every stage of the work, translating complex ideas into powerful visuals with clarity and creativity,” says Sorana Radu, Senior Communication Specialist at Teach for Romania.
Andra Badea is a freelance illustrator based in Romania and the creator of cuteOshenii, her own universe of playful characters designed to give friendly faces to abstract ideas and emotions. After working as an art director in advertising for seven years, she transitioned fully into illustration over a decade ago. Since then she has worked with brands including Canon, TED and Glovo, while also illustrating eleven children’s books.
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