Learn the lingo
A gamified language-typing app that helps learners build vocabulary through fast, repeatable practice.
Confidential portfolio material. Shared for evaluation only. Not for reuse, distribution, or implementation without permission.
- → Role: product Designer
- → Timeline: Oct 2024 - Aug 2025 (10 months)
- → Team Size: 1
- → Business Model: EdTech
- → Tools: Figma, SwiftUI, Maze
- → Purpose: Design a language-learning app that feels fun and engaging, rather than repetitive or academic.
Work summary
As a product designer, I achieved:
- Conducted 30 surveys and 5 interviews to identify motivation drop-off patterns in language-learning apps.
- Identified motivation loss during repetition loops as the primary barrier to sustained learning.
- Introduced pixel-art reward animations to make repetition loops feel progress-driven instead of mechanical.
- Live-tested a typing-based learning prototype and adjusted pacing and feedback timing to improve session completion.
Overview: Most language apps feel like homework. Learn the Lingo turns vocabulary practice into a fast-paced typing experience — meeting learners where they already enjoy practicing.
User Needs:
- → Repetition to feel engaging instead of mechanical
- → Progress to feel visible and immediate
- → Learning sessions that fit short time windows
- → Light competition to stay consistent
- → Distraction-free interfaces to stay in flow
Step 2 - Designing a concept
Core Challenge
Based on the findings, I reframed the design challenge:
- How might we make language learning as rewarding and measurable as leveling up in a game, something users return to for both the fun and the progress?
Using a typing test tool is practical, convenient, and aligns with user habits. This direction also connected to my personal experience using MonkeyType to strengthen my French and Spanish vocabulary through consistent, gamified repetition.
Step 3 - Modification from the user research
Finding → Response
- Finding: Users lose interest quickly in mobile games.
Design Response: Retro visuals + simple flows that feel energizing, not overwhelming. - Finding: Gamification in Duolingo was motivating.
Design Response: Integrated progress tracking, rewards, and playful elements. - Finding: Many struggle to find effective language learning tools.
Design Response: Clear value upfront and easy-to-understand purpose. - Finding: Progress feels abstract and unrewarding.
Design Response: Show concrete stats – WPM, accuracy, new words mastered – after each session. - Finding: Users enjoy light competition.
Design Response: multiplayer mode
Step 4 - Incorporating competition and gaming
Pixel art gaming
I used Figma to design a prototype based on all my findings through research and intial ideation. The first prototype was incomplete but it clearly demonstrated what I want to do, make learning fun.
Step 6 - Mapping the User Journey
Task Flow
The user flow prioritizes:
- Immediate clarity → Choose a mode → Choose a language → Start typing
- Minimal friction → Reduced upfront decisions, clean screens
- Reward loops → Stats and unlock animations after every session
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Step 7 - Prototype testing and improvement
Initial Prototype Testing
5 interviews, 5 iterations.
Design evolved through user insight. Early prototypes were functional but felt “too plain.”Testing revealed users wanted energy and personality, not just clarity. I merged retro pixel visuals with modern UI simplicity to create a nostalgic yet fresh experience. Playful details like the red balloon and night-city backdrop turned the test into a game world that motivates learning.
Design evolution
- Added pixel-art retro styling mixed with clean, modern UI
- Removed monsters and level up system in place for multiplayer and casual solo mode
- Introduced night-city backgrounds, floating red balloons, and soft animations
- Built a visual world where “practice” feels like starting a game, not fulfilling a task
Users described the new concept as:
- “It looks like a great concept”
- “I would definitely play this type of game.”
- “I love how the design is simple but also very busy with fun art.”
- “I'm surprised there is no similar game on iPhone already.”
Step 5 - Testing shaped a series of deliberate design tradeoffs
Tradeoffs
- Typing based loop vs. spaced repetition
Spaced repetition optimises for memory; I optimised for motivation. Users who drop off in week two never reach the long-term benefits of a rigorous system anyway. Engagement first, retention second. - Pixel-art aesthetic vs. clean minimal
Early prototypes tested as "clear but boring." The retro aesthetic was a deliberate risk — one that paid off by creating an emotional reaction and a sense of world that keeps users coming back. - Multiplayer focus vs. solo progression
A monster-battle system confused users about whether they were competing or progressing alone. Splitting into a clean solo mode and multiplayer mode made each mode's value immediately obvious.
Step 8
Final Design Testing
Evaluate
- How intuitive the navigation and game setup feels
- Whether gamified typing increases motivation
- If users understand the value before creating an account
Method:
- 5 moderated sessions, screen-share format
- Users completed 3 scenario-based tasks:
Results:
- ✓ 100% task success
- ✓ Users immediately understood the game loop
- ✓ Retro visuals significantly increased excitement
- ✓ All 5 participants said they would use this instead of their current tool
Key Feedback Themes
- “Feels incredibly responsive.”
- “Love the stats after each session.”
- “Leaderboards make it more fun than regular typing apps.”
- “The visuals make me want to come back.”
Step 10 - Using Figma
Designing and prototyping in Figma
Because the app was designed exclusively for mobile, I treated Figma as a production tool rather than a sketching space prioritizing component reuse, spacing consistency, and interaction clarity across every state.
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