MY ROLE
MY ROLE
Embedded Files
UX Researcher, UI/UX Designer
DATE
DATE
Sept 2022 - Dec 2022
TEAM MEMBERS
TEAM MEMBERS
Shreya Choudhury, Pranali Mansukhani, Julie Rissman, Jenny Wang
TOOLS
TOOLS
Figma, Mural, Miro
THE PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM
Duolingo is one of the most popular, free language learning applications in the market. However, the track record of the language learners of the app is not so great. Redesign Duolingo to enhance user experience and improve language learning success for its users.
THE SOLUTION
THE SOLUTION
Our redesign focused on increasing user engagement by introducing a new flow for personalized learning journeys. The application now adapts lessons to meet individual language learning needs. We implemented feedback prompts after lessons and at specific checkpoints in the users' journey. Visual design principles guided our redesign. We added progress indicators, and intuitive icons, and removed the distracting heart gamification element based on user feedback.
PROCESS
PROCESS
The Double Diamond design thinking process guided the completion of this project.
DISCOVER AND DEFINE
DISCOVER AND DEFINE
User Interviews
User Interviews
In order to gain insights into the user experience and gather feedback regarding the current version of Duolingo, we carried out six user interviews. These interviews involved individuals with diverse language-learning motivations and at various stages in their language-learning journey.
Competitive Testing
Competitive Testing
Additionally, we conducted a comparative evaluation of Duolingo against four other popular language learning applications available in the market.
Key Insights
Key Insights
Through our findings, we discovered that the majority of users of language learning applications were dedicated learners. However, many of them faced challenges due to their busy schedules or the need to learn specific language aspects within a limited timeframe. They expressed difficulties in achieving their goals using the current format of Duolingo.
Identify opportunity
Identify opportunity
After identifying 3 key opportunity areas in Interaction, Engagement, and Progress, and their relevant HMW questions, we decided to focus our redesign to address the issue of Engagement.
"Jahaan, a non-beginner Duolingo user who is learning Japanese, needs to customize their learning journey to their learning needs and experience adaptive language exercises because they drop off or discontinue often due to disengagement."
"Jahaan, a non-beginner Duolingo user who is learning Japanese, needs to customize their learning journey to their learning needs and experience adaptive language exercises because they drop off or discontinue often due to disengagement."
IDEATE
IDEATE
Crazy 8s and Brainstorming
Crazy 8s and Brainstorming
Each of us came up with 4–8 small ideas to solve the engagement problem and its sub-concerns.
Present and Critique
Present and Critique
Each team member presented their ideas to the group, and we collectively identified shared themes among our solutions and categorized them accordingly. We also eliminated less significant ideas or those that did not directly address the issue of engagement.
Converge and Prioritize
Converge and Prioritize
Next, we used SCAMPER to try and converge our ideas into bigger, key ideas. Finally, we did a quick prioritization exercise with the $100 test for our 3 key ideas.
Crazy 8s
Idea prioritization
User storyboard
DESIGN
DESIGN
Based on our shortlisted ideas and storyboarding activity, we created process flow diagrams as shown below to inform our prototyping activities.
The colored symbols represent the new, proposed flows for the redesign of the application
Paper Prototypes
Paper Prototypes
Once ready with the process flow, we created the following paper prototypes. These helped us brainstorm several options for the given information architecture.
Medium-Fidelity Prototype
Medium-Fidelity Prototype
After brainstorming a few versions of the paper prototypes, we designed the medium-fidelity prototypes.
EVALUATE
EVALUATE
We tested the medium-fidelity prototypes by conducting user testing and heuristic evaluations. We also internally rated our prototype against the visual design principles checklist. The following improvement areas were identified.
Usability Testing
Usability Testing
High usefulness ratings for the ‘personalization’ and ‘feedback to app’ features.
Low usefulness rating for the ‘revamped hearts gamification’ feature.
High ease of use ratings for all the features.
Low predictability or clarity ratings for ‘personalization’ and ‘feedback to app’ features.
Heuristic Evaluation
Heuristic Evaluation
Improve match between system and real world by using a smart ‘Personalized Practice’ icon.
Enhance app consistency by simplifying language and color in 'Personalized Practice'.
Promote consistency with call-to-action language in lesson feedback screens.
Enhance system status visibility, and recommend options with clear call-to-action buttons for feedback screens.
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
We incorporated all the feedback from the testing phase, to design our high-fidelity prototype which can be viewed below.
High-Fi.mp4Incorporated changes:
Remove the heart feature altogether.
Change section headings to be more self-explanatory.
Aligned the typography and colors to match Duolingo’s original colors.
Made sure all call-to-action buttons were consistent.
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