At this point, it feels like we all have used Duolingo or its cousins to learn a language. And what has it really gotten us? Most people aren’t satisfied with the progress they’re making when the primary teaching methodology of the current app offerings is rote translation with no cultural context.
Research on language learning tells us that it is best learned through deeper cognitive processing, such as through conversation or reading language in a text. Is there a way to maintain what people like and needs about independent learning but promote deeper congitive processing?
I combined primary research via interviews of potential users with competitor research of similar products. My goal was to understand what motivates people to study another language, how they feel about current studying methods, how they feel about their progress, and what challenges they face making progress they are satisfied with.
I spoke with 5 participants, all native English speakers, who have learned a second language. They all had different learning goals and proficiency levels, and they ranged from learning one additional language to several at once.
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Two different persona roles were developed for this project through discussion with the research participants.
First we have Ella, who loves traveling, but as a native English speaker, feels shut out from visiting some places due to not knowing the language or the culture. She wants to be able to learn multiple new languages so she can visit anywhere confidently. She isn't happy just translating sentences; she wants something more substantial so she can feel like she can hit the ground running when she arrives.
Luis is a more advanced learner. He's already finished what he can find in most apps, but still doesn't feel like he knows a language well enough. He wants to read real books, but gets overwhelmed with vocabulary and grammar when he tries to study on his own. He wants support for higher level language learning.
Once I had a good idea of the motivations, goals, and pain points of potential users, I started to ideate on how to help solve the problems they face through Point of View Statements and turning them into How Might We...? questions.
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I used user stories to brainstorm possible features for alanguage learning app. From this, I ranked them into priority levels, high, medium, and low. This created our list of must-have features.
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For this MVP version of the app, the main branches include the account/profile page, the list of languages available to be learned, and a specific language home page (ex: Japanese language home). From this language homepage, users can also visit individual text pages with further content. All pages are gated through an account log in to determine if content is available to users at different subscription levels.
I ended up with 5 distinct user flows that represented the major features of the site.
Sketching ideas for a reading based language app, I had to consider: is this more like an e-reader or a textbook? Is it a set curriculum or a bookshelf? What will be overwhelming in a non-alphabet script for basic learners?
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After sharing with colleagues, some design elements were added, determinations about page variations were made, and first decisions about visual hierarchy and spacing were made.
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At this stage, I tested the usability of the product with 5 participants in a moderated usability test. We tested 4 tasks: Creating a new account, Interacting with a word in a text, Reading a culture note, Starting to learn an additional language.
Mood board #1 focuses on reading as a juxtaposition of calmness and excitement. Reading is a way to travel while being stationary. What thrilling places can we read about on the muted beige of a page in a book?
Mood board #2 captures the passion and excitement of adventure in far-off places. Language, and reading, will take us to places we dream of, so in this mood board we live in a colorful dreamscape of pinks, blues and purples.
Core Brand Values:
For company logo/wordmark, I used the Alba font from Fontalicious. It has a pleasing roundness and feels inviting, welcoming you to the language learning community, while also not feeling overly cute. The initial U created the app logo which is striking and clear, while also maintaining that welcoming feeling.
Utilizing the brand logo, typography, and mood board, I created components for the various functions of the product and developed the high fidelity wireframes for key flows which would then be employed in usability testing.
For this iteration, I did an unmoderated usability test on maze.co to try to see how users interacted with the site without conscious or unconscious guiding from me as a facilitator. I tested the same 4 tasks as in the previous test: Creating a new account, Interacting with a word in a text, Reading a culture note, Studying an additional language.
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In this video, I give a tour of the 4 flows tested during product development: Creating a new account, Interacting with a text, Reading a culture note, and Learning an additional language.
