Background
As someone who is always studying languages (and studying in general), I know for a fact that revision is very important. If If you don’t use a language that your studying everyday, certain words will be forgotten. After constantly struggling with remembering certain words, I came up with this app.
Personal Objectives
- Expand my portfolio
- Take full ownership over the design process of this product
Research
I began my research by interviewing 3 of my friends, that have studied or are currently studying a foreign language.
I asked the following questions:
1.What frustrates them the most when learning a new language?
2.What method helps them remember things the easiest?
All 3 mentioned that if they don’t study everyday, or at least every other day, most of what they studied is forgotten, which makes them lose motivation to study further.
For easiest method to remember:
- 1 chose listening
- 1 chose games
- 1 chose listening and writing
Despite only one of my friends mentioning it, numerous researches and studies concluded that “writing things down leads to better learning”. It is because by writing we engage in retrieval practice, which is a more active form of learning.
To be able to reach a wider audience, I started searching through forums and discussions boards, to see what strangers have to say about vocabulary learning.
These are the comments that I have gathered to help me in the process.
This is the discussion that caught my eye the most.
This means that there is (even though small) a demand for this app.
Rounding up the data, this are the results that I’ve got:
- 40% use excel rather than an app for vocabulary
- 40% use flashcard apps
- 20% use dictionaries
Competitive Research
Before going further, I decided to do a Competitor analysis on one of the most mentioned apps on the language learning forums, Anki.
I started by making a list of the pros and cons of the app.
Pros
- Relies on spaced repetition technique, which has proven to be very effective
- Allows audio,video and image files to be added to flashcard
- Gives the user a great amount of freedom when customizing their flashcards (amount of cards, frequency of seeing cards that were answered wrong etc.)
Cons
- A great amount of complaints about the UI not being intuitive and time consuming to understand
- Requires daily commitment
With all of this in mind, it was time to set out some goals for my app.
Goals
- Make an easy to use, intuitive app
- Help with consistent vocabulary revision, without taking too much time and effort.
- Help user revision vocabulary without the pressure of everyday use
- Give app a distinctive feature
Problem
My main problem was my last goal – How do I make the app stand out?
Using only the first three goals would make a pretty bland cake. I needed to add the icing, and maybe even the cherry on top.
Solution
I came up with my feature after reading about a Math alarm, that won’t stop ringing until you solve an easy math problem.
I decided to add a similar feature, but without the ringing.
The initial idea was to add a vocabulary question to the user’s lock screen, instead of a password. The user would have to answer it to unlock their phone. But then, because of various security and emergency reasons, I decided to opt for a safer option.
Make the questions appear as a notification, on lock screen and/or home screen, and leave the option to lock only certain apps of the user’s choice with vocabulary questions.
This way the user will be constantly exposed to the words that they studied, without time constraints. Locking certain apps will also serve as motivation.
User Persona
Task flow
After deciding on the main feature I proceeded to create the main task flow.
Wireframes
The simpler something is, the easier it is to retain in short term. That is what I wanted to focus on for this app’s user interface.
I wireframed 3 different dashboards with this in mind and then decided on the one that fit the most.
Draft A had vocabulary lists, the option to add a new list and the app settings options right on the dashboard.
I did not choose this one because it put settings at forefront and not the vocabulary lists, which would be hard to scroll through once the user will keep adding lists.
Draft B had the vocabulary lists and the option to add a new list on the dashboard. I decided this was the most convenient to use and easy to understand.
Here is where I also added a search bar with filter options. It will allow users to sort through lists right there, without having to go through other settings.
Draft C had an add a new list option, recent lists and all the lists on the dashboard.
I did not choose this one because it felt too cluttered. The user could use filters to sort lists alphabetically or by date so there was no need for the same lists to repeat on the screen.
Final Wireframe
UI KIT
To create the logo of the app I combined the words “Revision” and “Lock” – Re-Lock. It signifies locking in the information.
For the color scheme, I went for a white background, as it was proven that most people retain information easier when it is written on a white background, and green and orange accents. Green is said to improve efficiency and focus, while orange is a mood-lifting color for learners.
Conclusions
This project started out on a whim and surprisingly, turned out to be quite challenging, especially because I wanted it to have the IT factor.
All in all, the main take away for me was that multiple drafts are an ideal way, when possible, to weight the pros and cons of a future app’s functionality and interface.
