Like many others, I decided to dedicate some of my free time to learning a language. The last time I had any exposure to language learning was in my high school French class. I hopped onto Duolingo immediately and was hooked. After a few days passed, I realized I wanted more than just stringing together cute, but ultimately unhelpful sentences in Norwegian - but where should I look for more language resources?
There are countless language learning resources out there. For beginners, it can be overwhelming and intimidating to take that first step and find a set of resources that fit one’s preferences.
What works for one person may not be compatible with another. Students soon find themselves faced with a slew of challenges, and ultimately give up on learning their targeted language entirely.
I interviewed 4 individuals and posted an online survey to gather info about peoples' experiences with learning a language. In total, I received 42 responses to the survey.
Synthesizing the data and identifying reoccurring pain points, my research revealed the following themes:
1. For people who have attempted learning a language, motivation was the biggest obstacle they faced (72.2%), followed by time-commitment and lack of focus (52.8% each)
2. For people who never attempted learning a language, time commitment was the biggest issue (66.7%), followed by motivation (50%).
3. When choosing a resource, cost was biggest factor (77.8%), then visuals (33.3%).
4. The most popular features they wanted to see were personalized resource recommendations and list of free resources to try (59.5% each). This was followed by reviews of resources (42.9%) and then tips on creating your own study schedule (38.1%).
I found it hard to concentrate and keep motivated to continue learning. And when I would come back to the app I felt like I forgot everything I had learned already.
If I had to learn another language, I’d try to look up different types of resources, doing research on them instead of just going for “what’s popular”.
I synthesized the information gathered and generated a set of precise How Might We (HMW) questions. These HMW questions allowed me to focus on the specific issues that needed to be addressed through the design.
Whether you're completely new or have some experiences with language learning, we can see there is much overlap in the feelings these users have during their studies. I developed personas to keep these two groups in mind as I moved forward:
I wrote down user stories to narrow down the key pain points I want to solve. These helped establish a starting point for what my product should achieve:
Although there are no direct competitors, I searched around for products that offer similar services such as providing lists of resources and background information on a language.
I also did a Crazy 8's exercise to quickly jot down some of my own ideas. Spending a minute on each sketch, I wanted to brainstorm features to implement in the website, taking inspiration from my competitive analysis. I also sketched out potential layouts and page designs.
After brainstorming, I developed a sitemap to lay out the most important features and which pages needed to be wireframes. This also allowed me to visualize how the user would navigate through the site and which parts of the user flow could be streamlined.
Creating a user flow helped me further layout the site and make sure features are easy to get to depending where you are on the site.
By showcasing the history of the language, and facts about the regions that speak it, there is a higher likelihood of a user’s interest being peaked and fostering an interest in the language. At first languages categories were only by continents, but was later changed to include sign languages and constructed languages.
The study guide builder is a short wizard that would find users the most well fit resources. To avoid users feeling potentially overwhelmed or distracted, each screen only displays one question at a time. I also included a progress bar so users could see where they were during the process.
The resource library and review hub compiles all verified resources and reviews in two convenient places. Both pages include a filtering feature so users can search for resources based on specific criteria, such as platform, price, or level. Each resource card would show ratings, price, and various tags.
So, how were things working so far? A remote usability study was conducted with 5 users via MAZE. Users were instructed to complete 3 tasks.
Tests
Minutes
Users Understood
Users couldn't locate wizard.
Solution: Added link to the builder in the navigation bar. Additionally, more CTAs directing to the builder were placed around the site.
Solution: Users commented the homepage felt cluttered and didn't advertise the site's features well. The homepage was redesigned to show more info about the site itself. Features like Language of the Week, although cool, don't really address my original problem statement, and were removed.
Solution: In the study kit builder, navigation were moved to the bottom of the page. Other links were repositioned for clarity.
Solution: The Results page was completely redesigned to include info on your learning style, and also identifies weaknesses and strengths in your current habits.
1/3rd of survey participants cited visuals as being an important factor. I wanted to keep user's interested peaked and not make them feel they're reading a textbook.
The chick was chosen as a mascot to symbolize taking those first steps into the big journey of language learning. The primary color was orange, this helps invoke a sense of adventure and optimism.
While the flags add to the overall aesthetic of the site, they can be detrimental. Flags represent countries, but languages are forms of communication and are not dictated by national borders.
To alleviate this problem, I opted for showing the language’s name in its original tongue, and in whichever language the user has selected to read the site in.
I loved getting this work on this project, mainly because I’ve tried learning a language before and always had a hard time staying focused and motivated. Along the way, there were a few lessons I learned:
As designers, what we think looks pretty is not always practical, such as the case of using flags in the design. While we can’t realistically accommodate every use case, taking the time to think about how to make our designs more inclusive can result in a better product for more users.
Design decisions aren’t made in a vacuum. While we might feel pressured to design something “perfectly” right away, if users don’t feel something is working, we can and should go back and reconsider other options. Failing to do so can result in missed opportunities and less effective designs overall.