Elevate Language Learning Through Customized Vocabulary Mastery
WORDS2GO
UXR/UX
In a world where language learning is essential, there's a need for an app that caters to diverse language levels and learning needs. My design of WORDS2GO offers vocabulary collections across various categories: Daily & Slang, Business, and Technical fields. Users have the flexibility to explore recommended collections or curate their own, providing a tailored learning.
Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
Marvel App
01
Intro
A UXR/UX journey to elevate language learning through customized vocabulary mastery.
Situation
In a world where language learning is essential, there's a need for an app that caters to diverse language levels and learning needs.
Task
The task at hand was to develop an app that could effectively aid in learning vocabulary across various categories.
Action
Research: Conducted extensive market research to understand the landscape and created a comprehensive business plan. Utilized UX analyses to evaluate three potential competitors. Additionally, delved into potential users' motivations and needs through interviews, affinity mapping, and the creation of detailed user personas.
Design: Crafted the information architecture and performed task analysis to ensure a seamless user experience. Developed wireframes and prototypes to visualize the app's structure and functionality.
Test: Conducted three rounds of moderated remote usability tests to refine the app's features and screens.
Results
WORDS2GO is an app designed for learning vocabulary.
It caters to diverse language levels and learning needs by offering collections across three categories: Daily & Slang, Business, and Technical fields.
Users have the flexibility to explore recommended collections or curate their own, providing a tailored learning experience.
02
Research
UX Competitive Analysis
Users Interviews
Affinity Mapping
UX Competitive Analysis
To start the project, I looked at three Vocabulary Building apps to analyse what is currently on the market. Competitive Analysis allowed me to better understand the educational context and reasons users choose vocabulary learning apps.
It also allowed me to identify what type of problems users face with competitors’ products, as well as understand what the users might expect from my product.
Wordup
Type
Vocabulary Trainer
General description
“Analysing 600,000 movies and TV shows, checking up trusted dictionaries such as Oxford, we’ve sorted all English words by how commonly used they are in the real world and culture. This helps you get the most out of the time spent on learning! “
“By using artificial intelligence, and a whole bunch of other innovations, WordUp has introduced a new way to learn that is more efficient and more enjoyable than any other method or technology in existence. It helps English learners and native English speakers alike!”
Pricing
Basic free browsing is available, Pricing Membership is available for extra features
(https://www.wordupapp.co/our-plans).
This user experience assessment is done for the free version only.
Design &
Navigation
Modern and minimalist design with heavy use of illustration.
The App is clearly divided into 5 categories: Learn, Knowledge map, Explore, Search and Profile.
The Navigational buttons are placed clearly on the bottom and the category title is readable on the top left side.
Heavy use of Visual aid such as infographics, photos and videos (dyslexia-friendly).
Clear Search function.
Basic learning mood with infographics & description cards.
Advanced learning mood by taking a deep dive into the word profile page.
The Word profile contains too much content.
No separate category for tests, tests popup randomly via a multiple-choice question format during the learning sessions.
Content Organization & Personalization
The app has categorization options for popular international language tests such as IELTS, TOFEL, PTE, GRE, SAT.
The app has 18 categorization options by subject such as (Sport, Family, Cooking…).
Possibility of having the word translated to the user’s selected mother tongue.
The app dose not adapt to a personal level and knowledge, words are ranked by popularity of use in media and culture.
It is not suitable for beginner speakers, only intermediate or advanced.
Although the app has a user profile it does not allow personalized collections or folders.
Progress can only be saved by registered users.
Sharing of personalized content is not available.
Tracking Users’ Goals
Statistics and achievements are presented in a well-designed Knowledge map.
Words the user (knew, is learning and will learn) are accessible to repeat and review.
The app tracks (Daily, Weekly, Monthly) progress.
Limited use of gamification elements.
Additional Info
The free version is ads free.
Getting Started
Short Introduction available.
Browsing is possible without creating an account.
Basic language test.
Sign Up basic personal information: Age group (Adult, Junior), Mother tongue, goal (10 minutes per day).
No onboarding for app navigation.
Memrise
Type
Vocabulary Trainer, new language learning & user-generated immersive learning.
Pricing
Basic free browsing is available, Pricing Membership is available for extra features
(https://memrise.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015974478-What-kind-of-subscription-plans-are-available-).
General description
“Memrise is a British language platform that uses spaced repetition of flashcards to increase the rate of learning. It is based in London, UK. Memrise offers user-generated content on a wide range of other subjects.”
Getting Started
Browsing is not possible without creating an account.
Sign Up basic personal information: I speak English, I want to learn German (Beginner or intermediate).
No language test to determine the level of the user.
Short Introduction is not available.
Customizable daily goal (Minutes per-day/words per-day)
No onboarding for app navigation.
Design &
Navigation
Modern and catchy design.
The App is clearly divided into 3 categories: Home, Learn and Immerse.
The Navigational buttons between categories are placed clearly on the bottom.
The navigational button between different courses (languages) is readable on the top left side.
Heavy use of Audio Visual aid such as videos.
No separate category for tests, tests popup randomly via a multiple-choice question format during the learning sessions.
Once the user browsing the Immersive videos, navigating back to the home page is not possible (or at least I could not find out how).
Content Organization & Personalization
The app heavily utilizes interactive learning.
Many of the interactive qualities are for the paid version only with no sample for the free version (e.g. learn with locals).
The app has clearly organized course in ascending difficulty from beginner to intermediate.
The app dose not adapt to a personal level and knowledge so it can become repetitive and boring
It is very suitable for beginner speakers.
It is not suitable for advanced vocabulary such as medical terms and business vocabulary.
Progress can only be saved by registered users.
Personalized folders or personalized flashcards are not available.
Sharing of personalized content is not available.
Tracking Users’ Goals
Achievements are clearly presented for daily words target.
The learning process include multiple choice quiz.
The learning process include spelling (not very dyslexia-friendly).
limited use of gamification elements.
Additional Info
The free version is not ads free.
Quizlet
Type
User-generated flash cards.
General description
PricingBasic free browsing is available, paid subscriptions for additional features
(https://memrise.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015974478-What-kind-of-subscription-plans-are-available-).
Getting Started
Browsing is not possible without creating an account.
Sign Up basic personal information: school, subjects, find my classmates.
Short Introduction is not available.
No Customizable goals.
No onboarding for app navigation.
Design &
Navigation
Modern and minimalist design but to simplistic and not catchy.
Too many ads.
The App is clearly divided into 4 categories: Home, search, add (sets, folders, classes) and profile setting.
The Navigational buttons between categories are placed clearly on the bottom.
The use of audio or visual aid such as (images, illustration, or videos) is not a must (not very dyslexia-friendly).
A separate category for tests with customizable formats (multiple choice, True/false, Wriiten) is included.
The flash cards are sometimes lacking concentration with very long texts.
Content Organization & Personalization
Little to no use of immersive learning.
Important features such as study paths and progress tracking are only available for the paid version
Search results contain too many sets and they do not include descriptions or ratings.
Filters for search results are available
Filters are not easily found during navigation.
The app has no clear organization of sets by ascending difficulty.
It is very suitable for advanced vocabulary such as medical terminology.
Progress can only be saved by registered users.
Personalized folders or personalized flashcards are available.
Sharing of personalized content is possible.
Tracking Users’ Goals
There is no achievements tracking or daily words target (for the free version).
No use of gamification elements.
Additional Info
The free version is not ads free.
Users Interviews
To understand the users needs, I conducted users interviews with 3 potential users. The objective of process was to gain insights into the needs and wants of users.
The questions:
Are you a student, professional, or both? Tell me more about yourself (Occupation & Age.
When was the last time you had to learn a good deal of new vocabulary? What was your goal in doing so? Did you succeed? Why or why not?
Tell me more about the obstacles to learning new vocabulary, and why do you think learning new vocabulary is difficult?
Tell me more about your workarounds/tools/methods to overcome obstacles to learningnew vocabulary?
What are your ideal settings for learning new vocabulary in terms of time, place and tools?
Imagine you find yourself using a vocabulary learning program/mobile app, what would be the most important features of that program/mobile app?
Affinity Mapping
After collecting the information, I created an Affinity Map to get a better overview, which helped me to identify valuable insights. The users feedback can be divided into 3 categories:
E, 34 years old Medical Doctor,
Bremen - Germany
S, 39 years old Researcher
The Hague - The Netherlands
T, 29 years old Account Manager Dusseldorf - Germany
Doing
She learned new vocabulary over an extended period of time, mostly on the internet by herself. Sometimes she used flashcards. she focuses on long term repeti tion, she tested herself to estimate if she remembered the vocabulary after a day then a week then a cou ple of weeks. She tried to learn Vo cabulary by reading texts to un derstand the context.
Feeling
She finds it challenging to mem ories a lot of vocabulary. She feels the learning process was rushed and she did not succeed in learning all the vocabulary she needed be cause it was a huge amount of new knowledge in a limited period of time.
Thinking
She can understand the word better when understanding the context. The vocabulary can be challenging to understand especially if it’s a new language. The nuances of some vocabulary cannot be understood or find an equivalent word in your mother tongue unless presented in a context.
Putting vocabulary in context, al ways learning them within a sen tence or a situation. She used flash cards; also post-it notes. She posted around the house to point out the names of items in Dutch. She likes using the photo diction ary and practice my friends.
Learning new vocabulary means that you need to learn to speak like a child, and it is hard to do that when you are an adult. It made her more aware of the limitations and harder to see the progress. She is frustrated with the lack of oppor tunities to practice in her daily life.
Having a logical division of the vo cabulary according to their use or context of use. For example, in stead of presenting random words or sentences, they should be pre sented in a dialogue.
She didn’t try enough methods in order to find the one that works best for her. She shortly used Doulingo app. She focuses on learning by forming sentences to express herself. She utilizes her basic vocabulary to write a sentence and then cross-checks it with the results on Deepl.com to spot mistakes and form better a sentence. Other than that she didn’t tried other methods e.g. Flashcards.
Frustrated that she did not yet crack the pronunciation of some sounds in German. Memorizing is hard for her be cause she does not have the time and the occasion to practice and revise the words. She needs to have fun when learning instead of stress. She feels that tools that focus on repetition only can be come boring at one point.
The rough meaning of a new word is not enough, she needs contexts to memories a word and understand how to use it. If she doesn’t repeatedly see or use a word she will forget it. The best practice for her is forming sentences using new vocabulary
03
Understand
User Personas
Task Analysis & User Flows
User Personas
After conducting in-depth generative user research, I meticulously crafted user personas to encapsulate the characteristics and needs of my target audience.
Sahra. 32, International Relations Manager, The Netherlands
Proficiency Level
Basic User
Family Status
Married, 1 child
Languages
Native Language is Spanish, she also speaks, English, French, and Italian
Needs
An app that does not need too much time commitment to get results.
An app that provides a logical division of the vocabulary according to their use or context of use.
A search option to look up ready-made vocabulary collections.
An emphasis on audio and visual aid.
The ability to customize vocabulary collections.
Goals
Spend up to 15 -30 minutes a day learning new vocabulary
Start making basic communication in Dutch when shopping or ordering at restaurants.
Learning how to pronounce new vocabulary.
Start making her own collection of words as she picks them up in her daily life.
Behaviors
Also, she lives in the Netherlands she does not speak Dutch. Shara is working as an International Relations Manager for a big export firm. Her job and her family take so much time she does not have time for language courses.
It is hard for Sahra to find opportunities to pick up new words in daily contexts. She does not use Dutch at work or in her daily life. She can get by with English in most cases. she would like to start learning the basics of the Dutch language. Additionally, Sahra has a 4 years old daughter. Her daughter started to pick up some Dutch words in the kindergarten and she likes to keep up with her.
She likes to read short stories to her daughter in the evenings.
Her job requires her to be online for a long period of time. She can use the technology without a problem.
Problem Statement
Sahra needs an engaging quick way to become up and running in a new language. She needs a flexible app that would present her with basic vocabulary collections on one hand and the possibility to create her own collections on the other hand. Having an audio and visual presentation is important for her because she wants to learn the pronunciation of the words.
Hypothesis Statement
Our vocabulary app WORDS2GO is a suitable for Sahra’s goals and needs. She will benefit from a flashcards library of vocabulary collections according to their context of use. It will provide her with the contextual meaning of vocabulary via a multisensory experience. It will give her a sense of achievement and lower her frustration via an interactive playful learning process.
And It will also allow her to create her collections of vocabulary.
User Stories
Sahara is good at multi-tasking, she can squeeze in 15 – 30 minutes of daily use.
Sahara quick engaging interaction to learn a new language.
She needs an app that provides her with a basic collection of vocabulary (flashcards) according to their context of use.
She also prefers flashcards with multisensory learning experiences by including audio/visual aid.
Sahara wants to make her own vocabulary collections.
“I’m looking for an app that will simplify the process of learning a new language”
Francy. 29,
Graphic designer,
Germany
Proficiency Level
Medium User
Family Status
Single
Languages
Native Language is Italian, she also speaks, English and some German
Needs
An app that does not need too much time commitment to get results.
A search option to look up ready-made business-level vocabulary collections.
An emphasis on grammar and writing.
The ability to customize vocabulary collections.
Goals
Spend up to 15 -30 minutes a day learning new vocabulary.
Improve her communication at work oral and written.
Start making her own collection of words as she picks them up in her daily life
Behaviors
Also, Francy moved to Germany for work, she already knows some German. Her job takes so much time she does not have time for language courses.
Her language skills allow her to communicate on a basic level with her coworkers and in daily life.
Her job requires her to use a computer for a long period of time. She can use the technology without a problem.
Problem Statement
Francy needs an engaging way to up her game in the German language. The mistakes she makes with communicating in German at work are frustrating her. She wants to make herself more effective in the workplace by giving her German language skillset some additional weight. Grammar and spelling are important for her because she wants to write mistakes-free emails and present her work in German with confidence.
Hypothesis Statement
Our vocabulary app WORDS2GO is a suitable for Francy’s goals and needs. It will allow her to benefit from a flashcards library of business-level vocabulary collections according to their context of use. She will learn to form new sentences and memorize spelling via exercises and quizzes.
It will give her a sense of achievement and lower her frustration via an interactive playful learning process. And It will also allow her to create her collections of vocabulary.
User Stories
Sahara is good at multi-tasking, she can squeeze in 15 – 30 minutes of daily use.
She needs a quick engaging interaction to improve her language skills.
The app will provide her with a collection of vocabulary (flashcards) focused on business-level vocabulary. She will learn via hands-on exercises and tools to form sentences.
She also prefers flashcards with short stories in text or audio visual.
Sahara will want to make her own vocabulary collections.
“I’m looking for a vocabulary app to improve my communication skills at work”
The WORDS2GO Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Ali. 34,
Medical Doctor,
Germany
Proficiency Level
Proficient User
A captivating splash screen featuring essential information such as the logo, tagline, and software version or browser requirements.
An intuitive onboarding process for a smooth user experience.
User-friendly sign-up and login functionality enabling the input and secure storage of personal information.
An accessible admin area allowing users to manage their information effectively.
An easy-to-navigate menu facilitating seamless exploration of the application's features.
A feature for uploading new vocabulary words and definitions, empowering users to contribute their interpretations.
Flashcards tailored for efficient and effective vocabulary review, aiding users in their learning journey.
Family Status
Married, 1 child
Languages
Native Language is Arabic, he also speaks, English and German.
Needs
An app with an emphasis on long-term memorization to help him overcome his memory problems.
An app that will help him learn a large amount of medical vocabulary without feeling overwhelmed.
A search option to look up ready-made medical vocabulary collections.
An emphasis on engaging repetition.
The ability to customize vocabulary collections.
Goals
Spend at least 60 minutes a day learning new vocabulary.
Have confidence when he takes medical exams and when he communicates with patients.
Make sure that the medical terms he memorizes will not be later forgotten.
Start making his own collection of words as he starts practicing medicine in German.
Behaviors
Also, Ali moved to Germany to work as a doctor, he already speaks German very well but he needs to learn medical terms in German. He is constantly studying to prepare for his medical exams.
Ali is constantly frustrated with his long-term memory. He wishes to learn most of the new vocabulary for life to be able to communicate effectively with patients and other doctors.
Ali has a smartphone and is very comfortable with technology. He can use the technology without a problem.
Problem Statement
Ali needs an engaging way that makes the repetition of medical terms less boring. He needs to review his vocabulary collection constantly. And he wishes to adapt them to his needs.
Hypothesis Statement
Our App WORDS2GO is a vocabulary application suitable for Ali’s goals and needs. He will benefit from a flashcards library of medical vocabulary collections. He will memorize medical terms via exercises and quizzes.
A Constant reviewing of the terms will allow him to preserve his achievements and lower his frustrations with his long-term memory. And It will also allow him to create his collections of vocabulary along the way.
User Stories
The app will help Ali memorize new terms with a constant engaging review.
The app will provide him with a collection of vocabulary (flashcards) focused on medical vocabulary. He will learn via hands-on exercises and quizzes. The app will constantly test his memory.
Ali will want to make his own vocabulary collections.
“I’m looking for an app to learn a lot of medical terms as fast as possible”
Task Analysis & User Flows
Creating Mental Models and User Journey Maps helped to understand what types of actions my users would like to take and why they would take these actions. After selecting the most important tasks, I created User Flows 2 primary tasks.
Primary Task - Add /create new collection
Entry point: Start App
Success criteria: set the search setting - Add new collection from library
levels (Beginner, Medium, Advanced, Expert)
contexts (Daily vocabulary & Slangs, Formal business, Technical Field)
sub-contexts for technical fields(Medicine, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering)
Primary Task - Set a daily goal
Entry point: Start App
Success criteria: set a goal to stay focused before tests.
04
Ideate
Prototyping
Prototyping
I started by sketching rough ideas and wireframes to plan the app's layout and features. These sketches laid the groundwork for the design process. Then, I moved on to building mid-fidelity screens in Marvel App, refining the designs and adding more detail for a cohesive user interface. Using Marvel, I iterated on these screens to create a clickable prototype, providing an interactive experience for users to navigate and explore the app's functionality firsthand.
05
Iterate & Refine
Usability Testing
Usability Testing Documentation
Usability Testing Report
Usability Testing
Testing Script
Hi, ___________. My name is Dima, and I’m going to be walking you through this session today. We’re conducting usability tests to better evaluate how well our prototype empowers people to learn new vocabulary. The session should take approximately 10 - 15 minutes.
The first thing I want to make clear right away is that this is not a test. You can’t do or say anything wrong here. You will be testing an incomplete prototype that likely has errors and mistakes - that’s why we’re testing it out! If you have any questions as we go along, just ask them.
OK, let’s get started. I’d like to ask you just a few quick questions about yourself before we get started with completing a few tasks.
Usability Test Plan
Scope: Testing the “WORDS2GO” language learning app to assess navigation ease of completing tasks.
Schedules: Meetings took place on June 16th 2022.
Sessions: Meet with 3 participants Virtually for about 10-15 minutes long.
Equipment: Video calls with the use of Skype or zoom / Pen and Papers for notes.
Tasks
Direct task 01 - Open the app, set up an account and complete the on boarding process
You are looking for an app that provides sets of words specific to your needs and maybe would like to try this one out.
Direct task 02 - Set a new daily goal
You have a test on the 13th of July and maybe you want to stay focused to memorize your tests.
Direct task 03- Finish your daily learning/quizzing goal
After setting up your account maybe you would like to start learning towards your gaols.
Direct task 04 -Add a new study set or/and Create your own study set
After finishing your daily goal you want to search for a new study set to help you with your test or maybe make your own.
Usability Testing Documentation
General notes on quotes and behaviour
1st test
1#
Completed without problems
The Names of the sets (Study set 1, study set 2, study set 3) gave the impression it is an order according to difficulty.
2#
Completed without problems
The Names of the sets (Study set 1, study set 2, study set 3) gave the impression it is an order according to difficulty.
3#
Completed without problems
It was clear to achieve the learning goal one has to click practice. Noticed a typo - Der finger (mistake for the plural)
4#
Completed with two problems
When clicking on “study sets” the heading “your sets” made it confusing to notice that “make your own” is what should be clicked on.
In the prototype entering data for the deck was marked as “entered“
The user continued waiting for a keyboard to pop up.
2nd test
1#
Completed without major problems
She asked what the levels “Beginner, medium....” mean.
And what does “Study set “mean.
2#
Completed without problems
She suggested that the app gets connected to the calendar
3#
Completed without problems
4#
Completed without problems
She suggested it should be named “Make your own set“, instead of
“Make your own“
3rd test
1#
Completed without major problems
The bottom check box means there is the possibility for more than one check (better be changed into bottoms)
The user tested “search for more” and “make your own” during this task as well.
2#
Completed without problems
3#
Completed without problems
She asked for validation with statistics (what did I get right or wrong)
4#
Completed without problems
Already tested during the on boarding process.
Usability Testing Report
Task
Metrics
1#
1
The bottom check box means there is the possibility for more than one check (better be changed into bottoms)
Comment: for the purposes of this test one can only choose one, but a high- Fidelity prototype should have that fixed.
1
The meaning of “Beginner, medium....”. Comment: can be changed into A1,B1,C1..... it is not necessary for this stage.
1
The Names of the sets (Study set 1, study set 2, study set 3) a high- Fidelity prototype should have that fixed.
2#
3
The difficulty finding the input bottoms “set a new goal” is not clear in the bottom of the home page. Should be fixed immediately.
1
Suggested that app be connected to the calendar, can be added.
User testing provided valuable insights:
Task 3 ("Finish your daily learning/quizzing goal") completed by all users without issues.
Difficulties observed with task 4 ("Add a new study set or create your own study set") and task 2 ("Set a new daily goal") for 2 users.
Minor comments received during task 1 ("onboarding").
Reflection on test results led to prototype changes:
Reorganized dashboard for clarity on tasks 2 and 4.
Added extra interactivity with keyboard.
Fixed typos.
Conclusion:
Positive learning experience with clear goals and methods.
Online testing presented challenges but was manageable.
Acknowledgment of limited time for additional research and experimentation.
Suggestion for research into instructional design for learning app.
Desire for WORDS2GO to be user-friendly and informed by user feedback and other learning technologies data.
3#
0
Validation with statistic (what did I get right or wrong)- it can be seen in the “achievement visualization“
4#
3
make your own set“, insted of “make your own“,fix immediately
Library”insted of “your sets”, fix immediately
1
Pop up keyboard
Metrics
0= I don’t agree that this is a usability problem at all.
1 = Cosmetic problem only: need not be fixed unless extra time is available on project.
2 = Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority.
3 = Major usability problem: important to fix, so should be given high priority.
4 = Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix this before product can be released.
06
Final Prototype
Sign-up and complete adding set(s)
Primary Task 1 - Search for more sets via Keywords
Primary Task 2 - Set a daily goal
Primary Task 1 - Search for more sets via Keywords
Sign-up and complete adding set(s)
Primary Task 2 - Set a daily goal
