My role
This project lasted 4 weeks, and it's main focus was to understand the Design Thinking Process. I took on a role of UX Researcher, UX Designer, and UI Designer and I developed a concept of a responsive vocabulary app from zero.
Context
You move to another country and you start a new life - a new job, new friends, new culture and new language. It's a lot to take on, a lot of new obligations. You don't always have the time nor the will to take up new language and practise every day. But what if you want to or you really have to, but you have no idea how to start? This is where Wild Speak comes into play!
The 5W's
To solve a design challenge I used the 5 w's rule:
• Why? (understand your goal)
What problem am I trying to solve? How my product will benefit the user?
• Who? (Define the audience)
What are the categories of people who have significantly different motivations for using this product?
What are the categories of people who have significantly different motivations for using this product?
• When and where? (understand user's context and needs)
Where are they? How much time do they have? What emotions do they experience?
• What? (list ideas)
What could I design to satisfy their needs?
• How? (measure the success)
How am I going to know that the solution was successful?
Problem
Expats need a way to learn a language efficiently for a fast adaptation to their new life, and being independent in the new country they just moved to. They have to settle down in the new job and get accustomed to the new culture, so there is not much time for them to learn something new.
Challenge
How might I design an app that allows users to learn on the go, whenever they want to, in quick sessions, without overstimulating them and discouraging them with overwhelming material?
Solution
Introducing a fun and easy to navigate app that offers quizzes, flashcards and short lessons, with a colourful interface, that will allow users to gain new vocabulary without putting too much effort.
Competitive Analysis
The competition of Wild Speak was based on three apps: Quizlet, cabuu and Promova. I performed a thorough analysis to see what features should I include in the Wild Speak for an optimal User Experience.
Learning about the Audiance
Getting to now how expats think and perceive learning new languages I conducted three interviews with potential users who gave me insights on what are they expectations, how they learn and what to avoid designing a vocabulary learning app.
Discovery #1
Using flashcards is one of the most popular and effective ways for acquiring new vocabulary. Including that kind of feature in Wild Speak would be a priority.
Using flashcards is one of the most popular and effective ways for acquiring new vocabulary. Including that kind of feature in Wild Speak would be a priority.
'I try to memorise lots and lots of vocabulary through flashcards'
Interviewee #1
Interviewee #1
Discovery #2
Learning a new language, while having a new job, social life and everyday obligations is difficult because of the small amount of time left for it. Designing lessons that don't take more than 10-15 minutes to go through is a key to engage the user.
'I don't have time to go through the app for 1-2 hours. I usually spend about 10-15 minutes on it.'
Interviewee #2
Interviewee #2
Discovery #3
A very important part of learning new vocabulary is hearing and seeing it being used in a sentence by a native speaker. Including audio and video materials with native speakers would be beneficial for users to succeed in learning a new language.
'Hearing native speakers in normal situations is what gives me the biggest insight into a language.'
Interviewee #3
Proto-persona
Designing the proto-persona to create a reliable and realistic representation of my key audience, to be able later to reference it and have the user and their needs at the core of the design was the next step.
Basic User Flows
Time for ideation. I designed the user flows in Lucidchart to make the app intuitive, present the correct information to users at the right time, and allow them to complete desired tasks in as few steps as possible.
First Wireframes
I created first sketches to visualise how I wanted the app to look, and what I wanted to include in it. It included, respectively, splash screen, onboarding, quiz sand home screen.
Low-fidelity Prototype
To carry on with testing my design I created a low-fidelity prototype in Marvel which allowed me to later on presented during Usability Testing.
Usability Testing
I conducted usability tests to understand how easy was it for users to use my product and to find out what worked well and what had to be improved. I was able to find 4 participants and ask them to perform 4 tasks:
1. Sign up as a new user, with your e-mail address.
2. Create a new flashcard, without customisation.
3. Create a new flashcard and customise it.
4. Start creating a flashcard, and any chosen moment, abandon the process.
1. Sign up as a new user, with your e-mail address.
2. Create a new flashcard, without customisation.
3. Create a new flashcard and customise it.
4. Start creating a flashcard, and any chosen moment, abandon the process.
Testing allowed me to uncover errors and mistakes like misleading buttons, missing headlines, lack of customisations and lack too complicated instructions.
Refining the Prototype - Iterations
I addressed the most important issues and implemented changes that were required. Below you can find 'before' and 'after' screens for creating an account and 'choosing proficiency level'.
What's next?
What have I learnt from that process?
Test, iterate, and then test again, and iterate more. Design Thinking process is a looped procedure, which allows you to constantly perfect your product by implementing changes and gathering feedback from your potential users.
What did I enjoy?
I really liked talking to people, picking their brains and finding out about their needs and motivations. UX Research has a special place in my UX Design journey.
What did I struggle with?
I found my self focusing too much on the UI side of the project way early in the project. In future designs I will put more effort on usability part of the project and leave the visual perfecting for later stage of the process.
What would be the next step?
If the project wouldn't last so short, and I would have more time, I would focus more on the UX research, create a site map, define more personas and design user journeys and create a full UI - one that would reflect the design you see today.
