Overview
People learn new languages for various reasons and everyone has a different way to approach the process.
The following case study is showing my process on the way to creating a prototype for an app that empowers people to learn and memorize new vocabulary on the move, quickly and easily.
My role was to do a User Research and to creater a low-fi prototype, to test it and to iterate accordingly to the results.
Tools: Pen, Paper, Marvel
The following case study is showing my process on the way to creating a prototype for an app that empowers people to learn and memorize new vocabulary on the move, quickly and easily.
My role was to do a User Research and to creater a low-fi prototype, to test it and to iterate accordingly to the results.
Tools: Pen, Paper, Marvel
My Design Process
Preparation class
(User Reasearch or Studying how people study online)
Even if there is already a big variety of apps on the market, they rarely bring the desired results.
Before making strong assumptions about it I decided to run a competitive analysis to get an overview of the field.
So, comparing QUIZLET, DROPS, and LEARNBOX, I could say what were some of the pain points my future app can address.
Before making strong assumptions about it I decided to run a competitive analysis to get an overview of the field.
So, comparing QUIZLET, DROPS, and LEARNBOX, I could say what were some of the pain points my future app can address.
The number of existing features was overwhelming - If I were to start studying a new language, there were three main obstacles on my way
Nevertheless, some of the apps had very strong advantages when it comes to interactivity, keeping you motivated and making studying fun (Drops), built-in dictionaries, and tailored content (Learnbox), creation of your own set of study cards, and playful rewards (Quizlet).
One of the strongest motivation triggers was the reward system and the encouragement of the competitive spirit.
- I either had to first learn how to work with a very complicated app before start studying (Learnbox)
- I have found myself lost in browsing a huge variety of language courses added by other people (Quizlet)
- I had to learn generated vocabulary without proper context and explications (Drops)
Nevertheless, some of the apps had very strong advantages when it comes to interactivity, keeping you motivated and making studying fun (Drops), built-in dictionaries, and tailored content (Learnbox), creation of your own set of study cards, and playful rewards (Quizlet).
One of the strongest motivation triggers was the reward system and the encouragement of the competitive spirit.
Entrance Test
(User Personas or Who was coming to class?)
People have different approaches when studying. I spoke with 4 Berlin-based multi-language speakers between the age of 26 and 32 to find out about the challenges they face when learning a new language.
Their answers showed a strong emotional connection they had with the experience of being misunderstood, judged, underestimated, frustrated, or just confused when approaching a new field of study.
An interesting topic was uncovered by a common problem people face when speaking more than one language - the so-called "False Friends" issue - mixing vocabulary from different languages and dealing with poorly organized knowledge.
Their answers showed a strong emotional connection they had with the experience of being misunderstood, judged, underestimated, frustrated, or just confused when approaching a new field of study.
An interesting topic was uncovered by a common problem people face when speaking more than one language - the so-called "False Friends" issue - mixing vocabulary from different languages and dealing with poorly organized knowledge.
A proto persona was created for the sake of the project embodying the information gathered.
Classroom Roleplay
(One persona in different situations)
So I already knew who was the type of person that I could support on the way to becoming a confident speaker.
Now I had to walk around with Laura to get to know the different roles she plays on a daily basis.
So User Stories were the next thing to write before defining the actual problem that LEXICON was going to solve.
Now I had to walk around with Laura to get to know the different roles she plays on a daily basis.
So User Stories were the next thing to write before defining the actual problem that LEXICON was going to solve.
|
Problem Statement
Laura needs to work on her in-depth understanding of the language because she wants to feel like a fulfilled member of her family, community, and professional surrounding. She needs an app to keep her on her track by setting an additional 5 min per day for quick enlargement of her vocabulary, related to the specific interests that she has and to the job requirements she has to meet. Laura needs a way to differentiate previous language knowledge because she feels stupid when she mixes up words from different languages.
Hyphotesis Statement
I believe that by building a beautiful app that can evolve with Laura’s progress, provide topic related, context orientated content, integrate dictionary in multiple languages, show pronunciation not only of words but of whole phrases, and can set a “5min studies” event in her calendar, I will achieve quality improvement in her day-to-day progress – she will have a steady, short studying practice and she will develop her language skills in a direction personalized just for her.
"How can I help you, Laura?"
(User Flows and Mapping solutions)
Taking into account two of the main issues of my persona, I started building Lexicon's main USER FLOWS.
Laura needs to study personalized content so there should be a feature allowing her to create her own sets of words she wants to work on.
And she wants to discover new words sorted by topics that she is interested in, so she should be able to browse through different categories.
Moreover, she could get an audio/video as well as contextual and inter-language references.
Laura needs to study personalized content so there should be a feature allowing her to create her own sets of words she wants to work on.
And she wants to discover new words sorted by topics that she is interested in, so she should be able to browse through different categories.
Moreover, she could get an audio/video as well as contextual and inter-language references.
User Flow "Create a deck"
User Flow "Learn Vocabulary"
Paper plan(es)
(Pen, paper and wireframes ready to take off)
Once the user flows were on my screen, I went back to my designer's notebook to sketch some wireframes. The project was supposed to fit in a month's sprint, so I was going to test the wireframes with users before transferring anything digitally.
Lexicon had to have a simple interface and straightforward instructions.
When writing the copy and working on the menu, I was thinking about the playfulness in the study process that people said they enjoy - I wasn't going to overload Lexicon with animation(s) (successful example from Drops, but targeting mainly learners with basic knowledge), but I wanted to be sure it would be fun to use.
Most apps have the so-called "Decks" - collections of cards with words on them, so I had to design such a card and it's content and to be sure it could be interactive.
When writing the copy and working on the menu, I was thinking about the playfulness in the study process that people said they enjoy - I wasn't going to overload Lexicon with animation(s) (successful example from Drops, but targeting mainly learners with basic knowledge), but I wanted to be sure it would be fun to use.
Most apps have the so-called "Decks" - collections of cards with words on them, so I had to design such a card and it's content and to be sure it could be interactive.
No Time To Waste
Test!Test!Test!
With the main structure of the app being ready, I have written 4 direct tasks and 4 scenario tasks to test with people.
The main goal was to test whether they can easily orientate themselves around the app and to gather first impressions on its usability.
I asked people to:
The main goal was to test whether they can easily orientate themselves around the app and to gather first impressions on its usability.
I asked people to:
- Create a new deck and add a word to it
- Move a word from their own "German B2" deck to a new deck
- Study a word from their decks
- Study a word from Lexicon’s decks
The result was that everybody managed to accomplish the tasks assigned while pointing out some downsides that had to be taken care of.
I have rated the issues by Jacob Nielson's severity scale and listed 4 of them that needed to be fixed first.
I have rated the issues by Jacob Nielson's severity scale and listed 4 of them that needed to be fixed first.
Actions taken:
|
|
What's next?
The next steps would be to implement the feedback into high-fidelity wireframes that could be passed on the the development team.