Alyssa Spickermann


ROOMS



a visual pocket dictionary



problem statement



HOW MIGHT WE INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT ON THE DUOLINGO APP?



SKILLS

Product management, Feature design, UI design


TOOLS

Figma, Sketch


*Some icons that I used in the header and footer of the Figma design

are from Duolingo (crown, heart, lessons dots, stories, lingo, "more"

dots). All of the other icons and images were created by me, with

Duolingo's style in mind.



Duolingo aims to make free language learning accessible to everyone. Rooms provides users with another way to learn and engage with a language, focusing on learning vocabulary words in context.


This project was initially created from the perspective of a product manager. I enjoyed designing this at the time, and recently decided to redesign it. In the new iteration, I took my visions from the product manager perspective and focused on the UI and UX, updating and using Figma methods that I learned since the original design.



FINAL PROTOTYPE VIDEO



BACKGROUND



hypothesis



IF USERS ARE PROVIDED WITH A DIFFERENT WAY TO LEARN VOCABULARY, THAT COMPLEMENTS EXISTING LEARNING MATERIALS, THEY WILL SPEND MORE TIME PLAYING DUOLINGO.



concept



Rooms is a visual activity focused on teaching vocabulary terms. It builds on Duolingo’s aim to provide many ways to learn, allowing everyone to learn in the way best suited for them and their needs. This provides real-world context for the vocabulary, helping users visualize the objects while learning.


This new vocabulary feature will show users the “room” (ex. kitchen, park, refrigerator) in a panoramic form that has indicators for objects that are vocabulary words for the room. Users can scroll through the "room," seeing different objects in common settings. This activity will give users an interactive way to learn vocabulary, and each unit will be completed in two lessons, which includes three learning types. Writing, speaking, and reading will be incorporated into the lessons. There is also a list option that helps with reading, listing the words in both languages. An ability to shuffle the words exists to create a matching activity.



inspiration



While Duolingo has several methods for users to engage with languages (stories, lessons, and podcasts, to name a few), I noticed there are no ways to learn vocabulary words in their contexts. Rooms aims to do both, placing items in common settings where a user can see, learn, and review them at any time. I was inspired by my own learning German as I grew up, reading books like "Duden-Mein Erstes Worterbuch" and playing games like "Guess Who?," using only German words. Rooms provides a new and interactive way to learn vocabulary, serving as a supplement to Duolingo's existing learning resources.



DESIGN



habitat in the duolingo app



Rooms would live in the Duolingo app in a similar way that the Stories feature does. Currently, Stories has its own icon at the bottom of select languages, making it easily accessible. To accesss it, there is a button in the bottom menu bar. This button leads to the main menu that lists the different “locations,” where users would then choose which subject vocabulary they want to learn.



minimum viable product (mvp)



The MVP would use a room that would not need to be scrolled. The scrolling feature is non-essential for an MVP, as the metrics could be studied with a simple room.



home



room: the vegetables



writing exercise



speaking exercise



matching exercise



word list



mvp functionalities



Using the functionality list, there would be content for three lessons, which would give users three different experiences with the words, and enough content for Duolingo to gauge the usage of the feature and gather data about its effectiveness through observations and A/B testing.



mvp testing metrics



The problem that Rooms will solve is the potential inability to connect vocabulary words with images or real-world objects, providing a way to learn vocabulary in a more interactive and context-based method. In order to understand if the feature helps users connect words with objects, several metrics can help quantify the impact.



word retention



how many words users remember after they complete a Rooms lesson



ab testing



compare vocabulary retention between users who experience Rooms and those who don't, measuring the potential difference in word retention



in-feature test



compare the word retention levels between the writing, speaking, and matching lessons in an AB-style test



high fidelity prototype



Several changes to the app, and what was designed, were made. Most notably, the UI more closely reflects the "Stories" feature that can be found in some Duolingo courses. I did not redesign the list feature, dedicating the time to improving the UX and UI.



home page



The home page can be scrolled through up and down. I decided to make unit labels that resemble freeway signs.



room with dots



The kitchen scrolls horizontally and features various built-in furniture and objects.



object activity



The pot provides a sample of what an interaction looks like in the "Learn" lesson.



label activity



This level encourages users to use their experience with the previous level and real-life to match the word to the object.



activity options



Similar to existing lessons, the activity options change as the user progresses through the activities.



user interface design



Aside from the existing Duolingo elements, Rooms requires several different element types to create the design system it uses. Here is a selection of various buttons and graphics that can be found in the high fidelity prototype of Rooms.



IMPACT



tracking events



Once in place, the use of the feature would be the key indicator of success. The following events can be analyzed through line graphs, small multiples graphs, and other appropriate representations. These data points and graphs will help determine the overall effect of the feature to the time a user spends using Duolingo, as well as providing insights to guide the future of the Rooms feature.



feature use



the number of times that the Rooms feature is entered



time spent (feature)



the amount of time users spend in the Rooms feature



time spent (app-wide)



measure the overall app usage, creating a metric for comparing feature use data with general use data to determine whether the feature adds to the average total time spent on the app by users



metrics



Additional research should be performed to help guide the future of the app, both in development and once the feature is implemented.



user satisfaction



hold interview sessions and create surveys to understand users' perceptions and experiences of the new feature



usability



conduct usability tests to determine any user experience difficulties



educational impact



collect data in both qualitative and quantitative forms to determine whether information retention and transfer is successful for users



edge cases & potential conflicts



Some considerations should be taken into account for future iterations.



object identification



cultural differences may cause objects to be unclear to some users due to its appearance



accessibility



indicators use color as a communicator, which causes accessibility issues



list shuffling



randomized shuffling could result in matching words being placed next to each other



speaking



the feature requires speaking, a choice made because the feature was meant as a supplement for existing lessons, rather than a stand-alone one



REFLECTIONS



next steps



If I were to extend this project, I would want to begin with user research and usability testing. User research would help guide the feature's full functionality to best accommodate users' needs. Research sessions could also introduce other areas where the feature could grow. Usability testing could help guide the design of the app's interface.


This project was initially created from a product manager's perspective, but it would be interesting to start a design iteration from a designer's perspective, where the focus would be solely on the UI and UX.



reflection



I really enjoyed coming up with the idea and learning more about product management along the way. I got to combine my passion for language education and design by building on an app that aims to provide free language education to all. I decided to revisit this project because I wanted to see what an updated version of the feature could look like, after more experience with Figma, completing grad school, and seeing the updates to technology (UI, especially). Overall, this project taught me a lot about product management, and gave me experience designing illustrations, and let me prototype new interactions with Figma.