Yoto is an interactive, screen-free audio platform that lets kids safely explore hundreds of stories, songs, radio stations and podcasts. Yoto’s aim is to feed kids’ curiosity with inspiring audio, sparking creative play and learning with products that are tactile and intuitive for all ages.

A key feature of the Yoto experience is the use of physical cards for playback of audio content. This lets children as young as two explore their favourite stories and music independently, while also promoting tactile play and helping with fine motor control development.

Pentagram has previously developed the industrial design of the 2nd generation Yoto Player and the Yoto Mini as well as Yoto’s brand identity, packaging, visual identity, and the look and feel for the website and app.

Sometimes it is harder to refine a product than create a new one. Building on the success of the previous design work for Yoto, Pentagram developed the design for the 3rd generation player, focussing on refinements and improvements like changing the material of the front face to make the pixel display sharper, and recessing it to be more robust when placed face down. The overall design has been refined to be easier to assemble during production and to disassemble for servicing or at end of life, by switching the assembly process from the rear to the front of the device.

The charging dock is now wireless, leading to a cleaner looking design overall, and a USB-C charging socket has been added. A lot of effort was put into redesigning the rear face of the product—the nightlight feature has been refined so the lighting is smoother and more diffused. 

The 3rd generation design has a built-in room thermometer, Bluetooth headphone support, acoustically engineered stereo sound and triple the battery life of the previous player. The silicone adventure jacket has also been updated to fit the new design.