How Ignition Works
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One teen. Two companions. One brain.

Sparks discovers who a teen actually is. Beacon teaches them to navigate the world they're stepping into. They share what they know — but never cross into each other's territory. The teen experiences one continuous relationship.

The handoff in action

A real teen. A real journey. Across both companions.

Here is what actually happens when a teen uses Ignition — across multiple sessions, with both Sparks and Beacon working from the same shared understanding.

01
yo, what have you been up to?
making fortnite edits mostly
oh nice — what gets you into them?
getting the timing right. takes ages but it's worth it
that 'worth it' bit is interesting. tell me more.
🦊 Sparks · Session 2

Sparks notices what genuinely lights them up.

Through real conversation, never a quiz. The teen doesn't know they're being assessed — they're just talking about something they care about.

Interest signals detected
gaming_digital creating_making attention_to_detail
02
Core — what drives them"figuring out what matters" · "wants it to be worth it"
Middle — how they work"patient with detail" · "shows up even when unsure"
Outer — what they're drawn to"gaming · editing · making things"
🦊 Sparks · Sessions 2–6

Across sessions, an identity picture starts to form.

Not what they should become. Who they actually are. Three rings: what drives them, how they work, what they're drawn to. This is what makes the next bit possible.

03
saw you're into editing your gaming clips. you ever notice how YouTube decides which clips it recommends to you?
no idea actually
it's guessing what you'll find interesting based on millions of other people. want to see how its guess for you compares to your friend's?
🦉 Beacon · First session

Beacon picks up exactly where the teen already is.

No setup. No questionnaire. Beacon reads what Sparks discovered and starts inside the teen's actual world — the same gaming clips, the same attention to detail.

04
🦉 Beacon Dashboard — Student Progress
D1 · ENGAGE★★★
D2 · CREATE★★★
D3 · MANAGE★★★
D4 · DESIGN★★★★
↑ Unprompted scepticism count: 3
🦉 Beacon · Session 4

Three sessions later — the instinct emerges.

The teen pauses an AI-generated clip in their feed without being asked. Sparks gave them the confidence to trust their judgement. Beacon gave them the judgement to trust.

The division of responsibility

Two characters. Two lanes. One shared brain.

Sparks and Beacon read from the same shared understanding of the teen — but only Sparks writes to it. Beacon never crosses into identity work. Sparks never crosses into AI literacy. The lane separation is absolute.

Sparks Sparks
Beacon Beacon
Job
Identity exploration and career direction
AI literacy and critical thinking
Question it asks
"Who are you?"
"What do you think happens if?"
When teen gets emotional
Stays present, follows it
Offers handoff to Sparks immediately
When teen asks about AI
Directs to Beacon
Stays in its lane — never does identity work
Crosses into other's lane?
Never.
Never.

Beacon reads what Sparks discovered. Sparks sees Beacon's progress.
Neither overwrites the other's work.

What each one does on its own.

Two complete products in one platform. Each is deep enough to stand alone — together they cover everything a teen needs to thrive in the world they're growing up into.

Sparks
Identity & Career Discovery
  • Identity Map — three rings that grow with every session: what drives them, how they work, what they're drawn to.
  • Possibility Space — 25 career territories across today, emerging, and future horizons.
  • Identity Snapshot — a shareable, personalised summary of who the teen is. Generated after seven sessions.
See Sparks' full journey →
Beacon
AI Literacy & Critical Thinking
  • Four Domains — Engage, Create, Manage, Design. Sequential. Mastery required to progress.
  • Levels of mastery — assessed after every session via signal detection.
  • Manipulation detection thread — runs across all four domains, builds real-world scepticism.
See Beacon's full journey →

Sparks adapts to where every teen actually is.

Every teenager comes to Ignition from a different place. Sparks identifies which profile a teen most resembles within the first few sessions — and adapts its entire approach. The teen never knows they're being assessed.

The Drifter

Needs gentle curiosity-sparking and low-stakes exploration. Sparks never mentions careers in the first three sessions. Pure play and curiosity.

The Pleaser

Has a plan imposed by others. Sparks explores values and what energises them — never challenges the plan directly. Contradiction emerges naturally.

The Anxious Explorer

Actively exploring but overwhelmed by options. Sparks is an enthusiastic co-explorer who normalises not knowing and celebrates curiosity.

The Focused One

Has a passion they love but can't see how it translates. Sparks goes deep into what they love first, then gradually opens up the wider world around it.

The Achiever-in-Waiting

Has done a lot of thinking and is nearly ready to commit. Sparks shifts from exploration to forward momentum — affirming, validating, helping take the next real step.

What the teen actually walks away with.

Two artefacts the teen owns and can share. One is shareable self-knowledge. One is measurable progress. Both are real.

From Sparks
The Identity Snapshot
🦊 Identity Snapshot — generated after 9 sessions
🧭 How you think
You process the world by finding the logic underneath things — what connects, what doesn't.
⚡ What lights you up
Making things that didn't exist before. Getting the small details right. Music production.
🗺 Territory explored
Architecture · Audio engineering · Strategy · 7 territories still uncharted

A shareable, personalised summary of who the teen actually is. Designed to be shared with parents, tutors, and personal statement advisors.

From Beacon
The Progression Dashboard
🦉 Beacon Dashboard — Student Progress
Domain 1 · ENGAGE★★★
Domain 2 · CREATE★★★
Domain 3 · MANAGE★★★
Domain 4 · DESIGN★★★★
Unprompted scepticism3 events

Domain progression and stars earned — visible to schools, defensible to inspectors. Conversations stay private. Privacy is technically enforced.

Curriculum & Framework Alignment

Built to complement what your school already does — never to replace it.

Ignition is designed to sit in the gap between identity and formal guidance — the work that has to happen before CEIAG, careers advisors, or pastoral care can really land. Here is how each companion maps to the frameworks schools already work to.

Framework
Sparks
Beacon
Gatsby Benchmarks
CDI Career Development Framework
  • Benchmark 2: Labour market information — the Possibility Space maps 25 career territories with real paths.
  • Benchmark 3: Individual need — identity-adaptive conversation, no two teens have the same experience.
  • Benchmark 4: Curriculum linking — interest taxonomy maps directly to academic subjects.
  • Benchmark 8: Personal guidance — one-to-one equivalent conversation at scale.
  • Benchmark 4: Future skills — Domain 1–4 progression maps directly to AI-era capabilities.
PSHE
PSHE Association Framework
  • Identity and self-awareness — who am I and what matters to me.
  • Managing uncertainty about the future, normalised through conversation, not advice.
  • Mental health and wellbeing — teen always leaves more capable, not more anxious.
  • Future planning — career direction as an output of self-knowledge, never a prescription.
  • Digital wellbeing — understanding how AI systems affect mood, attention, and self-image.
  • Online safety — manipulation detection thread builds real-world scepticism.
Citizenship
National Curriculum Citizenship
  • Self-awareness and preparation for adult life — the core purpose of the identity map.
  • Understanding rights, responsibilities, and society — career territory exploration includes social impact spaces.
  • Digital citizenship — understanding algorithmic systems that shape public life.
  • Ethical judgement — Domain 3 requires teens to make ethical decisions about AI, not just describe them.
  • Democratic participation — Domain 4 connects AI governance to personal values and civic responsibility.
OECD Learning Compass 2030
Student Agency & Transformative Competencies
  • Student agency — teen always in control of their own exploration, never prescribed a direction.
  • Identity and sense of belonging — the core purpose of every Sparks session.
  • Navigating uncertainty — normalised through conversation, not advice.
  • Creating New Value — Domain 2 (Create): using AI as a thinking partner, not a replacement.
  • Reconciling Tensions — Domain 3 (Manage): navigating the gap between AI capability and human values.
  • Taking Responsibility — Domain 4 (Design): connecting AI governance to personal values and civic life.
PISA 2029
Creative Thinking Domain & AI Literacy Direction
  • Sparks builds the self-knowledge and intrinsic motivation that underpins creative confidence — a prerequisite for the PISA 2029 Creative Thinking domain.
  • Creative thinking with AI — Domain 2 activities require teens to use AI as a creative collaborator, not a search engine.
  • Critical evaluation — manipulation detection thread directly addresses PISA's emphasis on evaluating information sources.
  • AI literacy as a core skill — Beacon's four-domain framework anticipates the direction PISA 2029 is moving for all subjects.

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