Heidi (Wren) Peak

Persona This is Amanda • 45 years old • Lives near Lansing, Michigan • Married with 4 Kids • 2 Cats, 4 Dogs and a flock of Chickens • BS in Forestry Conservation • Runs her own Day Care Business • Hosts Foreign Exchange Students • Enjoys Needle Arts, Scuba Diving, Arts & Crafts, Cooking & Baking for Family Gatherings Goals & Motivations 1 To advocate more effectively in her business between her foreign students and their International families 2 To stay motivated and on track reaching her daily learning goals for a sense of accomplishment 3 To build a bridge between her American and Lithuanian family members, keeping their national traditions going, especially their native tongue Problem Brief The Problem The Problem Statement Amanda Needs a quick, easy way to fit learning 2 languages into her busy day so she can better communicate with her foreign exchange students, their families abroad and her aging Grandparents. 1 She needs a translation feature that converts English to the language she is learning for immediate help She needs reminders and to track her daily goals, as well as to practice with native speakers to become more effective with her communications. 2 She needs to be an effective communicator so features must enable her to practice conversationally with natives 3 She needs daily reminders and consistent feedback to be as efficient as possible Challenges She Faces Her Challenges “I know of no other app that teaches Lithuanian because it is so difficult to learn as are several other languages, that have gotten overlooked and that interests me right there.” “Using common phrases and being able to carry on a real conversation with a native speaking actual person would be awesome.” “The big issue here is obviously time. Short, but consistent lessons are key here as are daily reminders, keeping track of my progress and getting instant feedback so I don’t waste my time.” 1 Has little time to herself or energy to dedicate to learning 2 Learning needs to be relevant with on the spot dynamic AI feedback to keep her productively moving forward 3 Needs a way to practice proper sentence structure to be more effective communicating with families to resolve issues 4 Wants to be able to engage her Grandparents in their native dialect so they won’t forget it Prototypes Wrong size & ratio Iteration 3 u Wireframes built in Xd: Cleaned up the appearance, Established better hierarchy, Visual consistency, added Missing buttons & reworked Icons & bottom navigation bar. X Ideating pencil sketches that did not fit the phone shape. OMG Oops! Panic! X t Iteration 1 Addressed some hierarchy & consistency issues here. X X X XXX Messy navigation Iteration 2 p Pencil phone grid paper that fit into Marvel after several attempts to find the correct size to load my sketches into. I had no idea, the chaos I could create with non clear or entirely missing buttons. Usability Test Plan Usability Testing Features Tested I decided to test out 5 key features because I felt they were most relevant to Amanda’s needs and for her first time use signing up and Onboarding. Amanda Rob Wendy Lee 1 Sign up in the app for the first. time and reach the home page. 2 Go to Home screen, find review, take a lesson, receive feedback and log out. 3 Go to Practice to chat with a friend, add the friend, send out a request to them, chat and log off. 4 After taking a lesson, go practice with a friend and then log out. 5 Watch the Onboarding Video and then login. Early Prototypes Iteration 1 - wrong size & ratio Iteration 2 - fit but failed Iteration 3 - fixed fatal flaws Improvement Next Steps Iteration 4 • a mid-fidelity prototype add in my new round of improvements and added • Build features and additional learnings from the test. my (+) section, adding in the planned additional • Completing features from my accumulated notes. the prototype with more features that I learned about such • Expand as recording chat sessions and video chatting. Do another round of usability testing with the new improvements I’ve already made to see if their experience is improved. Lower button down u Change these buttons to Record & Video u Put photos here and build out the video & Recording flows u Build out the “add in” features u Retrospective The Journey Reflecting on the journey of creating this language learning assistant, my primary goal was to develop a tool that seamlessly integrates into the lives of busy professionals, students, and moms, providing information at a glance. The challenge lay in distinguishing this app from existing language learning platforms like MemRise and WordUp while infusing it with my creative flair. I take pride in achieving a soft and friendly aesthetic for the web app, a design inspired by its name, “Lingual.” The intention was to evoke a sense of fun and rapid learning, assuring users that they can master a new language swiftly with the app. Looking ahead, I plan to incorporate more visual brainstorming and ideation into my design approach. Considering the personality users would appreciate in a design is a crucial aspect. Considering the design as a person and pondering if users would form a connection introduces an element of relatability. Lingual’s persona, I’m confident, resonates seamlessly with the intended audience. The client’s requirement for mid-fidelity wireframes was met successfully. Future steps involve transitioning to a high-fidelity prototype in Figma, aiming to provide users with a more realistic environment for testing. This phase will necessitate the creation of a full UI prototype and a comprehensive Style Guide. The journey continues, evolving from wireframes to a tangible, user-centric prototype. Credits Assets Tools Client Hero Image: MidJourney AI by Wren Peak Creative Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesign Adobe Illustrator Adobe Xd CareerFoundry UX/UI Immersion Program Vector Personas: Freepik www.freepik.com Photography: UnSplash www.unsplash.com Icons: NounProject www.nounproject.com Logo: Wren Peak Meme: LinkedIn Marvel PowerPoint Keynote Sketchies Paper & Pencil Mentor: Yu Hao Tutor: Caitlin Crow Coach: Erin Howard