Fluently

A language learning platform that empowers users to connect with language learning partners or mentors, fostering immersive learning experiences for a more engaging journey towards fluency.
Fluently prototype images.
View the prototype here

Background

In today’s day and age, people that want to learn a new language can turn to an app as it’s one of the most flexible, affordable and versatile ways to learn. However, learning a new language requires a high level of commitment and time. Studies show that people can feel overwhelmed when they are learning something new, but if information is provided in “bite-sized chunks” of info, this can lead to better results and help people retain more information as they progress.
For the purpose of this design, we aimed to identify ways to help new language learners stay motivated and feel supported while learning a new language, along with identifying key features that would assist them in their journey of doing so.

Role
End-to-End UX Designer
‍UX Researcher
UI Designer
Branding
Graphic Design

Timeline
80 hours

Tools
Figma
FigJam
Optimal Workshop
Whimsical

Process

1 / Research
2 / Define
3 / Design
4 / Testing
5 / Conclusion

1 / Research

As the end-to-end UX Designer, I began my research by reaching out to individuals who were interested in learning a language, or have tried learning a new language before. I wanted to gather more info on how people got their start into learning a new language.

Research Goal

We needed to understand how and why new language learners fell off their language learning journey and had trouble staying committed to learning.

Research Methods

  • User Interviews
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Affinity mapping
  • POV / HMW statements

Research Objectives

  • Understand the specific needs, expectations and pain points of people that begin to learn a new language
  • Understand a person’s approach and method on how they study a new topic
  • Understand what motivates people to start and continue their language learning journey, and what factors may lead them to drop out
  • Identify the current challenges a person is facing as they are learning a language, and the support they require

User Goals

  • Stay motivated while learning a new language.
  • Ability to measure progress while learning.
  • Connect with peers, native speakers or a mentor for enhanced immersion.

Business Goals

  • Prolong user retention and engagement.
  • Increase user acquisition.
  • Partner with educational institutes, language courses or businesses to promote language learning and subscriptions.

User Interviews

I started off with user interviews to learn what pain points people were encountering, the problems they faced and what they desired to help counteract these problems. I reached out to individuals who wanted to learn a new language or had tried learning a new language before, and focused on understanding the issues they were facing, as well as what they desired to help them through their language learning journey.

Key Findings

  • All participants tried learning a new language on their own means.
  • All participants noted that maintaining consistency was one of their biggest concerns.
  • Participants said their goal would be to hold some basic level of conversation with others, and understand key phrases / words.
  • All participants wanted to be able to practice with a native speaker or pair with a mentor.

Competitive Analysis

Next, I conducted competitive analysis to analyze what was currently on the market, to discover the strengths of the top language learning apps, and where they fell short. I found that while many of them had intuitive features and clean UI, none of them seemed to address the pain points that language learners desired for, which was to be paired with a native speaker or mentor.
View Competitor Analysis in FigJam

Key Findings

  • All apps had some form of structured learning lessons and exercises.
  • All apps had progress tracking for studying.
  • All apps had some form of community engagement, to varying degrees.
  • All apps had a free basic version.

Affinity Mapping

I wanted to gain more insight from our user interviews and connect the dots on the pain points that they were seeing, as well as identify any common patterns and insights.

POV / HMW Statements

Now that I was able to identify key insights from the user interviews and affinity mapping, I was able to zone in and focus on POV (point of view) and HMW (how might we) statements to better empathize with the user's frustrations and identify a common goal to focus on.

POV #1

I’d like to explore ways to help those learning a new language maintain the motivation and support needed because they often encounter challenges such as loss of interest, lack of external encouragement, and insufficient interactive opportunities, hindering their desire to learn a new language.

POV #2

I’d like to explore ways to help those learning a new language feel more supported and have proper guidance because many new language learners desire engagement and hearing feedback from others.

POV #3

I’d like to explore ways to help new language learners achieve a stronger feeling of progression, as many new learners can have trouble defining clear milestones and assessing their own language proficiency, which can hinder their ability to effectively measure their own progress.

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hmw #1

How might we instill more motivation in new language learners, so they feel that they are measuring their level of progression more accurately?

hmw #2

How might we provide more accessible ways to provide immediate support and guidance for those who are learning a new language?

hmw #3

How might we help new language learners measure how well they are learning the language, so they feel good about their progress and enjoy the learning process?

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2 / Define

With all my consolidated research data from my users and competitive analysis, I was now able to start focusing on defining the problem, as well as delve into several strategies to resolve this problem.

"Defining the problem" methods

Defining the problem

The user interviews, competitive analysis and affinity mapping confirmed my initial assumptions, and identified the problem at hand.
‍How can we ease the process of learning a new language for people, and retain their motivation while doing so?

User Personas

With the combined data that I gathered from user interviews and affinity mapping, I was able to construct two user personas that best represented the target user, and embodied the pain points of the participants.

Idea Exploration

I wanted to get really creative, so I came up with some ideas by using creative constraints , analogous inspiration and pitching in real-life examples where people would find themselves most likely to learn a new language.
To get some more juice, I sprinkled in adding new features or a twist on these ideas to get more creative.

Feature Roadmap + Prioritization

To ensure that I was prioritizing the correct features, I created a feature roadmap and identified the most impactful features vs the least. These were identified by a combination of data from user interviews, comparison against competitors and identifying the needs from the users.

User & Task Flows

Now that I've identified what the problem is, and possible ideas on how to address it, I shifted my focus to how the user would be able to easily initiate, or access the features in the design.
One of the key features we identified was for the user to have the ability to book a mentor through the app.
To conceptualize this, I created some user & task flows to visualize the steps taken to book a mentor, as well as be able to start a language lesson.

Mid-fi prototyping

After reviewing key features, I went back and created mid-fidelity wireframes, this time focusing more on progressing with the flow for specific features.

Information Architecture / Sitemapping

Once the key features were identified and prioritized, I moved to focusing on how the information in the design should be structured.
I conducted a quick hybrid card sort study and found that participants expected to find key features, such as “Contact my mentor”, under several categories as it seemed to correlate with “Help”, “Lessons”, “Settings” and “Social” categories.

3 / Design

Creating the design

Colors

I created two color palettes, but ended up going with a more brighter palette as this spoke to the theme of the design.

Logo

For the logo design, I focused on the topics of socializing, chatting and international communication.
What I found particularly challenging was incorporating these themes into a single logo - I opted to keep the name of the brand as I thought it might be more difficult to recognize the idea of the brand without the name.
I decided to go with the globe icon as it conveys the idea of international communication, and paired it with a bolded font choice, making it for a clear and readable logo.

Component Library

I went with a brighter color scheme, and selected Inria Sans as a typeface for its clean and clear readability.

4 / Testing

Now that I was nearing the final steps in the design process, it was time to bring all the data, prototyping and flows together into a high-fidelity prototype, then run usability tests with participants.

Testing phases

Usability Tests & Results

Focus:
I asked my users to test three task flows: creating an account, starting a vocabulary lesson in the app, and booking a language mentor.
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Success metrics:
‍I wanted to measure success based on a 90% or higher completion rate of the task, less than 5% of errors encountered, and under 5-6 minutes for each task.
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Results:
Overall, participants were able to complete all tasks allotted to them successfully, with no errors, within an average time of 4-5 minutes per task.

Iterations

While participants were overall pleased with the ease of use and navigation of the product, there were improvements to be made based on their feedback.

5 / Conclusion

Learnings:
With all final changes, feedback and iterations made, the intuitive language learning app, "Fluently" came to life! I learned that throughout the journey as an end-to-end UX designer for this product, ideas and designs were constantly iterative and ever-changing, which brought about new, fresh and creative ways to improve the product.
Final thoughts:
This project helped me gain a better understanding of the key features to initially focus on when creating an end-to-end product, and where to devote the most time and effort to - ultimately, the best research data came from the users themselves, through testing and interviews, as they provided the perspectives necessary to build out the product.