Understanding the probleM

Learning Cantonese myself

Prior to this project, I attempted to learn a dialect as a means of research, to limited success. Through this process, I found myself engaging with language-learning apps, an online tutor and dictionaries.

From here, I deduced several features for effective dialect acquisition, comprising of:

• Resources to build and maintain vocabulary (e.g. flashcards, romanisation systems)

• Immersion into content in the target language (e.g. movies, written content*)

• Opportunities to converse with other speakers

Precedent studies / ‘competitive analysis’

With these features in mind, I analysed several language-learning apps and the features they offer. Other than the fact that almost none of these apps feature Chinese varieties, none of them offered the aforementioned 3 features. This became my opportunity for the solution.

User Interviews

Interviewees cited a lack of need, practice and/or community as common failures when learning.

I also conducted interviews with 12 individuals, half of which have attempted learning languages (including Chinese dialects) while others have not. I asked them the questions below to determine their learning pedagogy and their reasons for their success, failure and/or disinterest, and then organised by data through affinity mapping.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:

• Whether interviews have attempted dialect learning before.

• If yes, their motivation, methods and difficulties.

• If no, an instance where they need to learn a dialect.

• Describe an instance where they accomplished a long-term and difficult task, and their motivation behind completing it.

The Main Insight

Learning involves repetitive review of vocabulary, and constant applications to the real world

Based on user research and observation, I noticed dialect learners tend to give up due to lacking access to dialect learning platforms (and vocabulary) as well as a lack of opportunities to proactively practice the language.

The User Journey

Personas

The Design

Ideating on features

With an idea of the users’ profile and needs, and with ideas for app features, I then ideated on these features, deducing their feasibility and layout possibilities.

Prototyping and testing

After exploration, the formulated ideas are then translated into the a high-fidelity prototype, with several improvements and adjustments based on feedback from user tests.

The Outcome

Product features (work in progress)

More features in the works, including:

The Style Guide

Conclusion

Reflections on actions & processes

With a full-fledged individually-done UX project, I am immensely grateful to have been through the entire UX process - to undergo aspects from user research to information architecture to UI design. On this note, a few things I have learnt:

1. Be insight- not solution-driven. I embarked on this project with a lot of pre-understanding and pre-conceived ideas, which were challenged once ample user research was done, and are not reflective of the facts on the ground. For example, I discovered a general lack of interest in dialect-learning, which called into question the initial idea of creating a generic (but dialect-centric) language-learning app. However, other opportunities arise from taking in users’ practical needs, leading to an emphasis in this direction.

2. Iterate as much as I can. As this project is not yet finished, I started to realise the benefits of iterating, or creating many possible designs around a certain idea. This can result in unexpected and/or newer solutions, which can be combined or prioritised to solve issues. For example, I would wish to continue iterating on the dictionary’s design, in order to come up aesthetically-pleasing user interfaces and/or interfaces which are more user friendly.

For any inquiries, or if you wanna chat over coffee, do drop me an email at manfredzq@gmail.com! ☕🤙

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