Amanda Brown | Janice Tsai

Agenda

•  An Overview •  Brand Philosophy & Business Goals •  Competitive & Comparative Analysis •  Surveys & Interviews •  Personas •  User Flows & Scenarios •  Sketches •  Paper Prototyping •  Prototyping & User Testing in InVision •  Next Steps

Duolingo: An Overview

•  Founded in 2011 •  Global community of language learners •  Extensive written lessons & dictation “games”

– Users progress with experience points as they complete lessons  

•  Most widely downloaded language app on the Apple App Store & Google Play (Average 4.5 - star rating)

•  United States is the largest user market – Also popular in Europe & the Americas – Focus in 2014 & 2015 is expansion into Asia

•  Tech Crunch’s Best Education Startup – 2014 •  iPhone App of the Year – 2013 •  Google's Best of the Best – 2013

User Reviews

The Opportunity

To allow users to customize their learning experience based on their motivation to learn a new language. For example, if research indicates that users would like to learn topics and

vocabulary for daily conversation or travel, Duolingo should be able to provide users with a more customizable experience so

that they can learn the aspects of a language that is most useful for them and within context.

Duolingo’s Brand

•  Goal  is  to  make  free  language  available  to  anyone  in  the  world  

•  Tagline:  "Learn  a  language  free.  Forever."  

•  No  hidden  ads,  fees  or  paid  'premium'  content  

•  "Learning...gamified"  •  Brand's voice, tone & style

should be, "friendly, witty and fun."

Duolingo’s Brand

“When we ask people why they enjoy Duolingo, we were expecting answers like: ‘I’ve always wanted to

learn a language’ or something like that, but the most common answer is ‘because it’s a fun past-time that

doesn’t actually ‘waste’ my time.’”

"They’re procrastinating, but they think about it as healthy food.”

- Luis von Ahn, Duolingo co-founder

Duolingo’s Business Goals

“We started thinking how can we get millions of people to translate text for free?…The way we thought about

doing it was we motivate them for free by teaching them language at the same time that they translate text. It kills

two birds with one stone.” - Luis von Ahn, Duolingo co-founder

“The vast majority of people learning a language are doing so in order to get a better job…They are people of low socioeconomic status, and we are not going to try to

charge them.” - Luis von Ahn, Duolingo co-founder

Duolingo’s Revenue Model

•  Free to all users •  Makes money by crowd-

sourcing pieces of translation done by users

•  Sells translations to large companies (CNN, Buzzfeed)

•  Utilizing user-driven content from Duolingo Incubator to build sister app, Duolingo Test Center

•  Have received approximately $38M in funding

Technical Specifications

•  iOS 7.0 or later •  Optimized for iPhone 5, 6, 6+ •  Compatible with iPhone, iPad &

iTouch •  Hosted by Amazon Web Services •  Back-end stack written in Python •  Front-end combination of

Mustache templates, Backbone.jc, jQuery and Twitter Bootstrap

Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis: Features

Duolingo Busuu Rosetta Stone (online) Pimsleur

Cost Free Free* $159** $99.95

Platform App App Online, access to apps & games MP3/Audio

Choice of Course Topics ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓

Teach Through Conversation ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓

*In-app feature purchases **$159 (6mo. subscription), $199 (12mo.), $229 (36mo.)

Comparative Analysis: Teach Through Conversations

Duolingo Busuu Rosetta Stone (online) Pimsleur

Listen to Conversations ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓

Practice with a Native Speaker ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗

Test Oral Speaking Skills ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗

Test Dialogue Comprehension ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗

Surveys: Why do people learn new languages?

Please further explain the circumstances that led you to learn a new language.

“Opted to learn more Japanese in college after watching anime in Japanese with subtitles for years.” - Ben, 24

“I’m currently living in South Korea and interested in East Asian foreign policy as a career, so I’m learning Korean now.” - Judith, 22

“I used to live in the the Bronx, and Spanish is widely spoken in my neighborhood, so I wanted to feel more connected.” - Katie, 23

“Because I like Brazilian stuff and wanted to be bilingual.” - Sean, 26

“Was traveling to Barcelona so wanted to learn some of the language to get around.” - Carolyn, 28

Interviews: How do people learn a new language?

“Class interaction is important for learning a language. Getting feedback from other people helps so much.” - Alivia, 21 “Audio is more important for me. It’s so important for me to hear how people say things.” - Samira, 27 “Watching a movie helps with picking up vocabulary and hearing the pronunciations. The more exposure the better - you hear what makes sense.” - Alivia, 21 “I listened to Pimsleur because it was conversation, more human. Other apps would be like ‘Hi. How are you? I am well.’ No one speaks like that!” - Samira, 27

Interviews: Affirming Duolingo’s Brand

“It’s this kind of game structure approach to learning a language that makes it pretty chill. It doesn’t feel like you’re doing a lot of work.” “In school, you do a lot of tests and memorization, but Duolingo combines it all to make it fun… It doesn’t feel like you’re actually memorizing things, but after a while you just know the words. It’s tricking you that you’re playing a game, but you’re actually learning.” - Jenny, 22

Key Takeaways

Why do people learn new languages? •  interest in culture •  travel •  work (both abroad & locally)

Conversation and dialogue is key for learning a new language. •  Audio, Pimsleur, native speakers, YouTube, podcasts

Other platforms serve the needs for topical content better •  Pimsleur •  Rosetta Stone

Duolingo’s game-like structure makes it appealing and not feel like work.

Key Takeaways

Behaviors -  Flexible, 15 minutes a day, sometimes more -  Repeats audio aloud even when not prompted -  Watches movies, tv, sports, etc. in that language -  Travels, works, & moves abroad -  Work communication (both abroad or local)

Goals (Pleasures) -  Want to connect with people (both abroad and

locally) -  Learn about culture -  Learn for travel, work, moving -  BECOME FLUENT!

Needs -  Casual learning (games) -  Structured learning environment -  Dialogue & conversation -  Native speakers -  Audio -  Flexibility in learning/lesson length -  Mobility

Pains -  Not enough exposure to dialogue, conversations, &

native speakers -  Not enough understanding of grammatical structure

Leigh: “The Casual Learner”

Behaviors -  Follows Argentine soccer team -  Watches interviews, game plays, & movies in Spanish -  Plays mobile games to relax while on-the-go -  Spends ~15 minutes a day on Duolingo

Goals (Pleasures) -  Fell in love with Argentine culture -  Wants to be bilingual (but no rush!) -  Games help her relax -  Excited to travel to Argentina in a year

Needs -  Flexible learning style -  Flexible time commitment -  Mobility to learn on-the-go -  Dialogue & conversation

Pains -  Not enough speaking practice -  Not confident enough to hold a conversation

Who is she? After the summer’s World Cup madness, Leigh became obsessed with

Argentina’s football team. She watches interviews of her favorite players, and sometimes daydreams about what she’ll say if she runs

into Lionel Messi during her trip to Argentina next year.

Leigh 24 years old, Female (Football Enthusiast)

Katrina: “The Immersive Traveler”

Behaviors -  Works in Spain 3 months a year -  Has a Spanish boyfriend -  Dines in local restaurants where English is uncommon -  Also uses Rosetta Stone for it’s native speaker feature

Goals (Pleasures) -  Wants to immerse herself in Spanish culture -  Wants to be fluent in Spanish -  Wants to be able to order at local restaurants -  Wants to communicate with boyfriend’s family

Needs -  Flexible time commitment -  Mobility to learn on-the-go -  Dialogue & conversation

Pains -  Not confident enough to hold a conversation -  Unfamiliar with grammar structures

Who is she? Katrina is an all-or-nothing type of gal, especially when it comes to

traveling the world. She’s doing some consulting work in Spain for 3 months a year, where she’s even acquired a Spanish boyfriend. She

wants to take his mother out for a fancy dinner, and is hoping to leave a good impression by ordering for them.

Katrina 31 years old, Female (Major Foodie)

Dan: “The Community Engager”

Behaviors -  Works at a hospital in the Bronx with a large Hispanic/

Latino population -  Plays mobile games to relax while on-the-go -  Also uses Pimsleur audio recordings

Goals (Pleasures) -  Wants to be able to converse in local Spanish dialects -  Wants to connect with people in his local community -  Wants patients to feel comfortable with him

Needs -  Relaxed learning style -  Flexible time commitment -  Mobility to learn on-the-go -  Knowledge of local slang -  Dialogue & knowledge of conversational terms

Pains -  Long, erratic shifts don’t leave time or energy for formal

study -  Not confident enough to hold a conversation

Who is he? Dan recently transferred to a hospital in the Bronx, and works with a large Hispanic and Latino population. He would like to converse with his patients in Spanish to make them feel comfortable, but he also

works long shifts and doesn’t have time for formal study.

Dan 37 years old, Male (Nurse)

Prototype: InVision

http://invis.io/6G23ALL78

User Flows

Katrina 31 years old, Female (Major Foodie)

“How do I ask for the check

politely?”

User Flows

Dan 37 years old, Male (Nurse)

“The patient in room 7 always

smiles and greets me in

Spanish - I want to be able to

respond!”

Listening Exercise

Speaking Exercise

Paper Prototype: A/B Testing

Wireframes: A/B Testing

Wireframes: Iterations

Wireframes

Next Steps

•  Assess the feasibility of integrating a live conversation feature •  Ex. converse with a native speaker, practice speaking

•  Consider integrating a list feature where users can access all the words & phrases they have learned in one place

•  Animate the “Speaking Exercise” interaction in Hype •  Do a comparative analysis of Duolingo’s native app and

desktop website •  Assess what features are available in one but not the other,

and why those decisions were made

Questions?