Matchmaking the Perfect Duo
Duolingo wants to take it’s language teaching capabilities to the next level. It’s 74+ million monthly users can practice reading, writing and listening through structured lessons on the app but their teaching capabilities fall short when it comes to conversational practice. I was part of a driven team of UX Designers to bring a new feature to their current platform. The goal was to provide users with the opportunity to have engaging conversations with native speakers of the language they are learning.
My Role
I worked on all aspects of the new feature with my design team. One of my main focuses was to get to know our audience through user interviews and usability testing. I also wrote UX copy to solve one of the major challenges we faced in the design.
Fun Games
Users love quick lessons that only take a few minutes.
Client
Duolingo (Disclaimer: This is a concept project and has no relationship to the actual company).
Language Learners Shy Away From Practicing Conversations
I interviewed people that use duolingo and other language learning apps. They shared with me the different emotions they experience when it comes to speaking a new language to others in real life versus what they experience in the app.
What’s Helpful
Users find it helpful to hear a native speaker pronounce words.
Users are tired of repetitive vocabulary and phrases on language learning apps. They would rather face challenges when learning a new language rather than being rewarded for recompleting a familiar lesson.
Discomfort in Practice
Users feel intimidated to speak to someone that is fluent or more skilled in the language they are learning.
Repetitive Lessons Exhaust Users
“We said this 5 times in the last 3 lessons.”
-Duolingo User
Language Learners Travel to Other Countries and Immerse Themselves in the Culture
I wrote the scenario that represents someone that may use our new feature. I was inspired by my user research to focus on how she likes to travel and looks to connect with locals while in other countries.
How might we allow users to practice with other members of the community in real time?
Partner language exchange where each person will act as both the expert in their native language and the learner in their new language
Practice conversational skills such as pronunciation and context in real time
Short, engaging conversations via audio message supported by transcripts
Connecting Students Around the World
Problem
Users do not have a way to easily connect with others that are proficient in the language they are learning, resulting in fewer opportunities to practice speaking and understand the context of new vocabulary.
Finding the Right Social Setting
How might we prepare users so that they feel supported and confident enough to speak with others?
Sparking Engaging Conversations in Two Different Languages
Direct competition offered live sessions with coaches and other language learners. All of it was offered through video conferencing and message boards.
Key Features to Focus On
How might we help users at different skills levels learn from and practice with each other?
Indirect competition, like HelloTalk, gave people the ability to talk and interact with each other. But people treated the app like a dating service because users could post photos of themselves and share their interests and hobbies.
Sketch and Sketch Again
To generate ideas quickly and efficiently, we sketched many wireframes individually and shared our work with one another. Through this design studio, we were able to combine aspects of our sketches and prepare our first prototype.
Users Did Not Feel Prepared for This New Experience
Version 1
What didn’t work
What we fixed
Version 2
We told the user that they would be practicing French and that their partner is learning English.
We added a playback, delete and send button.
With the thumbs up and flag icons removed, users still had trouble understanding what they were about to do. Some thought that chatroom meant they would be texting back and forth.
Users were unsure what to do when asked if they wanted to correct their partner.
Users were not sure if they were talking to a real person.
Users wanted a way to play back the message they just recorded.
Users were not confident that they needed to correct the other person.
Users thought these icons were for liking the message or flagging the message for inappropriate content.
“How would I know which part was wrong?”
-Participant in usability testing
Version 3
Final Prototype
I designed an info page breaking down the key elements of what the user wasn’t understanding.
I made sure the copy was short, concise and on theme for Duolingo’s branding.
Setting Boundaries to Meet the MVP
There were many features we talked about adding, but we needed to stay focused and decide where to put our time and energy to create the minimum viable product.
DuoChat’s Live Conversations Create a Comfortable Language Learning Setting.
Results
User’s knew what to expect before joining the chatroom and we’re ready to converse with their partner.
Reflect
I learned to embrace my strengths, as well as my teammates’ strengths, in the design process to make the final product the best that it can be. My background in writing and interviewing helped us to make stronger connections with our users.