I was part of a team that was asked to analyze the language learning app Duolingo and identify some usability improvements. My role on the team was lead Researcher and UI designer.
We sought to understand why people use Duolingo, how they prefer to use it, and how they think it could be better. Our objectives were to understand the technical constraints of redesigning the app, identify opportunities for improvement, and show adjustments as a prototype.
I first sought to understand the competitive landscape in which Duolingo operates. Within the language education marketplace, we found that Duolingo has an competitive advantage with its exceptionally high popularity due to its “freemium” business model, which allows users essential functions for free but offers additional features for a subscription fee.
I found an opportunity for Duolingo to focus on the social aspect of its educational infrastructure- since many language-learning applications don’t seem to focus much on collaborative learning.
After conducting 6 in-depth interviews, we learned that people need a way to practically apply what they learn in their Duolingo courses.
People also seemed to appreciate Duolingo’s motivational features- but expressed they would be even further motivated by more activity with friends. In other words, users would rather learn collaboratively in order for more opportunities for conversational strengths to emerge.
While Duolingo offered users the ability to follow friends, social interactivity was limited. Aside from seeing friends’ progress, there was no way to “co-learn” together.
This prompted us to ask: How might we implement a feature that allows users to apply what they’ve learned with others?
In order to directly address the lack of collaborative learning features, our team decided to prototype two distinct features:
1.) A "challenge" feature that allows friends to compare scores and motivate each other
2.) A chat feature that creates an environment for friends to practice conversational language through a familiar chat interface enables them to translate words on the spot.
Throughout the development of these designs, we took care to study and adhere to Duolingo’s official brand guidelines.
The high-fidelity prototype is available to view here.
Challenge Feature
If the user is friends with someone who is studying the same language, we give them the option to challenge (and thus encourage) each other at a particular skill category. Users are also able to initiate a challenge from a friend’s profile page.
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Choose Challenger
Here, a friend list is given, and a challenger is specified.
Challenge Screen
This screen serves as a confirmation that the challengers are set.
Victory Screen
Conditions for victory are first, whoever answers more questions correctly. If it is a tie, a victor is chosen by whoever completes the lesson the quickest.
Messages
Our priority was making it possible for users to use what they’ve learned within the app with friends studying the same language.
Chat Conversation
In the chat window, we wanted to make sentences translatable similar to how they’re implemented during lessons.
