Concept for a vocabulary learning app

Overview

"How might we design a mobile app that empowers people to learn a new vocabulary?"

During a two week course with Career Foundry I explored the fundamental building blocks of a user centred design process by answering this problem statement.

Research

As a keen language learner, I had already used language learning apps regularly. I conducted a competitor analysis of three language apps to assess what made a vocabulary learning app successful. My main takeaway was that a successful app needed to be fun, functional, simple to use and customisable. 

User Interviews

Through my German integration course I had access to fellow students who all have fresh experience of learning a new language. I conducted some user interviews to uncover how they study, what they find frustrating and what learning methods work best for them. I found that apps were mainly used as a supplementary aid to language learning classes, for memory retention or game play. My thinking at this point was for my design to be a quick reference tool to create and categorise terms and their meanings to supplement study.

Proto Persona

I created a proto persona to keep my design user focussed and represent the needs, goals and behaviours of my hypothesised subset of users. I would be designing for someone who:

• Needs to categorise words and their meanings

• Likes to learn through gameplay

• Wants to personalise their flashcards with drawings

Sitemap

Within the navigation needed to be a place for creating a card, a library or glossary of terms to categorise these terms, a games area and user settings. I aimed to keep the flow simple for users to navigate through the app quickly to play a game or to create a card, keeping in mind that the app is to be used in short bursts.

Wireframes

I began sketching ideas for screen design using the 'crazy 8' technique. I found that this exercise great for coming up with plenty of quick, low fidelity ideas. I digitised the sketches using Adobe XD and built a mid-fidelity interactive prototype to test with users.

Usability Testing

I tested the interactive prototype assess where my design could be improved, and observe user behaviour when interacting with my app. I used Jakob Neilsen's error severity rating scale to assess how severe each issue was, and then recommended what actions could to be taken to improve usability before the next round of testing.

Reflections

This project was great to get a taster of what to expect from a career change to user experience design. I enjoyed speaking with people to understand different viewpoints, and having the opportunity to design something that solves a common problem.