App Concept
idiom.
Team: idiom.
Role: UX Designer
Timeline: December 2023 - March 2024
Current State of Language Learning Apps
Gamification
Users feel trapped into maintaining streaks and collecting weekly XP instead of focusing on language learning.
Low Variety
Lesson types that just focus on translating sentences and speaking words aloud prevent users from reaching conversational proficiency.
Competition
Social connectedness is strictly tied to competitive features and modes, forcing users to go all-in on gamification to compete with friends.
Focus for idiom.
Learning First
Users feel trapped into maintaining streaks and collecting weekly XP instead of focusing on language learning.
Wide Variety
Lesson types that just focus on translating sentences and speaking words aloud prevent users from reaching conversational proficiency.
Cooperation
Social connectedness is strictly tied to competitive features and modes, forcing users to go all-in on gamification to compete with friends.
Learn everything
While other apps only give you tips after you've failed a problem repeatedly, idiom. supports you with pre-lesson and mid-lesson explanations so you can understand the patterns of new languages in real time.
Learn any way
Translating words and phrases is helpful in the language learning process, but being exposed to a variety of mediums can take a beginner to proficiency quickly. From vocab cards and sentance translations to podcasts and short stories, idiom. helps you learn how you learn.
Learn together
Shared experiences makes language skills more translatable. Users typically struggle in conversations with real people since language apps have you practice on structured problems. idiom. encourages you to meet users who are at similar CEFR levels so you can talk about your hobbies and interests in real life contexts.
Learn everywhere
In a world where users interaction with technology goes beyond the phone, idiom. strives to integrate into people's routines. From interactive widgets on the home screen, a beautiful watchOS app, and an immersive Apple Vision Pro app, idiom. will meet users wherever they are.
Motion
Animations can help increase the premium feel of an app, bring moments of delight to users, and help users connect component states and screen transitions. In idiom., we wanted out animations to adopt the personality of our app; morphing shapes, bright colors, and bouncy movement.
Loading
We had two goals with our loading states: 1- Avoid the usage of traditional loading indicators. Research shows that spinners and linear loading indicators make users feel like the loading state is longer than it really is. 2- Morph our loading components into the target page's components.
Interaction
One of the most tedious parts of any app experience is navigating to your intended destination. Regardless of the information architecture, it still creates a premium experience for the user to embed motion into the interaction patterns of their journey.
Subtle
Even static pages should not be exempt of joyful moments. We want screens where users may be for prolonged periods of time to feel lively while also not feeling too distracting.
Brand
idiom uses a washed but vibrant color palette that is exciting to look at but gentle enough to ensure prolonged learning sessions eye-strain free. Colors are typically paired with a complimentary pair for a touch of playfulness. As a text heavy app, the font is bold and clear, free of any ligatures or serifs. Modern devices are getting bigger screens, and reduced bezels; to help users maximize their screen real-estate, non-text content is free of any outer paddings, creating the illusion that the content bleeds beyond the display.
Form Factors
In a world where users interaction with technology goes beyond the phone, idiom. strives to integrate into people's routines. Smartwatches are being more commonplace each passing year and virtual reality devices look to be the next evolution of mobile computing devices. Whatever the device, idiom. will meet users wherever they are.
watchOS
Smartwatches are made to be used on the go. They are an extension of our mobile devices. For idiom. on watchOS we wanted to allow the user to quickly control media that in use in the mobile app while also providing bite sized lesson types for those who are looking to learn while on the move.
visionOS
Virtual reality headsets have existed for a few years now but were typically used in casual gaming contexts. Apple's latest product release, the Vision Pro, sought to redefine what a virtual reality headset can do, opting for productivity and entertainment as the core of the device experience. idiom. sought to meet that need by introducing new experiences into the app and reorganizing navigation to work better in open space.
Spatial
Components and screens that previously were only able to exist as a standalone item in the mobile app, the increased volumetric area afforded by a virtual reality headset allow idiom. to bring more learning to the user front and center.
Contextual
Machine learning has made huge strides over the last few years and we want idiom to be at the forefront of that technology. When using the headset, idiom. can identify common objects and present translations for them, allowing users to learn more about their surroundings in an organic and contextual way.
idiom.
Milosis