While working on a client brief at AKQA, some coworkers and I decided that the project we produced didn’t go far enough. On the side, we gave ourselves a similar but more ambitious brief: Make male-dominated STEM fields more diverse.

The result is Secret Code, a customizable picture book and AR App that tackles the problem at the source, when children start developing aspirations. Studies show that stereotypes impact aspirations by age 6. What male-dominated industries like technology lack are role models that girls can relate to, Secret Code makes girls see what they can be, at an age that matters.