Learn the lingo
Creation Process
- → 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:
- Conducted 30 user surveys and 5 interviews to understand motivation, and engagement patterns in language-learning apps and Learn the Lingo design.
- Identified motivation and repetition as key barriers to sustained learning, and reworked my model to address common shortcomings in existing apps.
- Created concept pixel-art–inspired animated assets to make practice feel playful and rewarding rather than repetitive.
- Live-tested a gamified typing-based learning prototype and optimized flow, pacing, and feedback to improve learner engagement.
- Performed competitive and market research across gaming and language-learning products to identify unmet engagement opportunities.
Impact:
- 90% task completion rate during moderated user testing of core lesson flows
- 85% testers opted into notifications or email follow-ups, indicating ongoing interest.
- 122 users joined the pre-launch waitlist, validating early interest
Overview: I set out to design a language-learning app that didn’t feel like homework. Instead of flashcards or memorization drills, Learn the Lingo turns vocabulary practice into a fast-paced typing experience inspired by MonkeyType, meeting learners where they already enjoy practicing.
Step 2 - Designing a concept
Reframing the Problem
Based on the findings, I reframed the design challenge:
- How might we make language learning feel as rewarding and measurable as improving at a game something users want to return to for both fun and progress?
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: Leaderboards and timed challenges encourage motivation.
Step 4 - Incorporating competition and gaming
Pixel art gaming
Step 4
User 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
Step 5 - Prototype testing and improvement
Evolution Through Preference Testing
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 6
User 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 7 - Outlook and lessons
Final Outcome
Learn the Lingo combines typing, game mechanics, and language learning into a single engaging experience. It solves the drop-off problem by giving learners fast feedback, visual rewards, and a world that feels fun to return to.
This project taught me:
- The value of research and UI on maintaining user attention.
- How combining UX and UI can create satisfying experiences for users.
- How to design for both motivation and usability simultaneously
Step 8 - 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.
4Fimo
View Next Project
