Design 93
Solving problems with design.
Duolingo
Implementing a cultural feature into a language learning application
Role
UX Researcher: Interviewer & Data Synthesizing
Team
Stephanie G.H., Joji M., Shaowen Y. and James N.
Time frame
6 Weeks
Deliverables
Primary and secondary research, user flows, usability testing
Tools
Figma, Notion, Discord, Zoom, and Google Meet
Project Type
Hackathon (IterateUX)
What's Duolingo?
Duolingo is a popular language learning application that uses gamification as a fun way for users to learn a new language.
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Their approach
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Bite-size lessons that feel more like a game than a textbook
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Point system to unlock next levels​
Fun Characters
Gamification
Design Process
My team and I used the Design Thinking process, where we were able to understand our users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions that were prototyped and tested.
The Problem
Rigid prompts
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Prompts that are generalized use cases
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Lack of personalization
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Difficult to apply learning into personal life scenarios
Proposed Solution
Integrated a new cultural lesson feature into Duolingo’s existing app, we believe users will gain a richer language-learning experience that is relevant to their personal goal.
Initial Strategy
Empathize through research
Survey: 59 respondents
Key takeaways
77%
Consider important to learn about culture
49%
Low confidence to use learnings in real world
84%
Wanted real dialogues integrated into lessons
Interviews: 5 Participants
Users wanted AI to work with cultural content
Deep-diving into users’ practices, needs and pain points with regards to cultural learning
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Different experiences and motivations means personalization is crucial.
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Users value cultural learning, but they do not find Duolingo to be a helpful resource for this.
Proficiency level is a concern when talking to native speakers.
“They only know basic English, and you only know the basics of their language... so there's a gap.” - Duolingo user since 2012
"When I was in Japan, the way they used the language was not the same as how I learned on Duolingo." - Japanese learner
Users often access language resources outside the app to learn cultural content.
"Japanese on Duolingo is very “formal” and different from what I learned in Face 2 Face lessons." - Uses Duolingo to Recap on Japanese
“As I’m learning on Duolingo, I will also follow Instagram or YouTube videos to check out what people do in Germany.” - German learner
Plot twist
It's been done before...
Duolingo in the past has tried to involve more cultural immersion experience but has discontinued it​
Duolingo Events (Discontinued)
Thematic virtual events hosted by native speakers
Audio Room (Discontinued)
Platform for language learners to practice speaking with each other
Prioritization
Our team came up with many wonderful ideas but based on time (6weeks total) and scope we treated this challenge like a real life scenario. We determine what would provide a high impact with low effort.
Integrate a new feature seamlessly
Using a user flow to...
Duolingo is an established company, we need a way to introduce this new feature to existing users. User flow helped us identify the best interaction touch points that made sense for a re-onboarding of updated preference
Concept Sketches
Personalized Preferences
Embracing consistency by using common Duolingo interaction patterns
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Returning users are able to personalize their learning goals
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Relevant content will be pushed based on preference change
Common design pattern
Concept Sketches
Connecting with Native Speakers
Ask a Friend Feature
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Feature is present into Duolingos Stepping Stones lessons
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Provide a way to connect with real users for help
New Cultural feature in Duolingos Stepping Stones
Usability Testing
3 Tasks: Completion Rate 100%
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TASK 1
Re-Onboarding
TASK 2
Cultural Lesson
TASK 3
Ask a Friend
Areas of Friction
When users interacted with task 3
- Users took longer to complete tasks
- Users reread text
Synthesizing Research
Although our users passed all 3 tasks, we sought out to find opportunities to better understand the users. There seemed to be some confusion in the tasks. We created an affinity diagram to find patterns of how the users reacted, here are some of our findings.
Key Insights from Affinity Map
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Confusing helper text, need for better guidance
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Low satisfaction on prompt for cultural lesson
Iteration
Clear Directions​​
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Simple and straight to the point to reduce confusion
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Using existing design patterns, and not re-inventing the page completely
A/B Testing: Preference Test
12 Participants
Next Steps
Gather at least 30 participants for preference test for a better quantitive data insights.
Content Strategy & Promotion
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Words matter, providing a clear message to guide users is crucial especially when introducing a new feature.
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It's a new feature, users won't understand right away. Maybe using their in-between lesson ads to promote this feature so users can ease in and become familiar with it.
Cultural Content
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There was still a yearn for cultural content, the examples we provided were vague. I'd revist interview transcripts to produce a prompt that resonates with duolingo users. One that stand out is a better understandment of cultural nuances. ​
Takeaways & Reflections
Usability Testing
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Looking back, all tasks technically passed in the sense of completion rate but not success rate. We could have used a "happy path" time stamp to compare it to the time participants took to complete their tasks.
Planning & Adapting to Change
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Our team was made up of different time zones some being 15+ hrs difference (Pacific, Central and Singapore) we scheduled times to meet, but also used a Kanban flow in Notion to communicate the progress of tasks and what needed to be done.
