Explore your village
Learn through real-world scenarios like shopping and meeting new people, in a village shaped around how you learn.
University group project
UX research
Web & mobile
Concept
DuoVillage
A concept redesign of Duolingo that gives learners real-world conversation practice, without the social anxiety that keeps them away from it.
Set your plans
Set goals, or plan for a trip: where you're going, what you'll do there, and the level you want to reach before you leave.
A world of languages
Every language gets its own village, rooted in its place and culture, with characters who remember you and always have something to say.
On every screen
Pick up where you left off on any device. The village goes where you go.
COVID-19 cancelled Duolingo's in-person events, the one place learners could practise speaking with real people.
Duolingo's mission is to make education free, fun and accessible to everyone. Many learners valued its in-person events because they gave them real-world practice that the app couldn't. When the pandemic shut those events down, my group and I set out to find what could replace them.
Our first idea
Move the events online
- Video-call versions of the in-person events
- A two-way pairing program where learners teach each other
What we found
Most learners would rather not
- Learners on the Duolingo forums worried they couldn't follow a conversation, or would back out
- Most people we surveyed and interviewed prefer to learn alone
63
Duolingo users, past and present, answered our survey
84%
prefer to study a new language alone rather than in a group
12%
were interested in voice or video chat; the rest preferred text
"The amount of activation energy needed to overcome social anxiety was too high."
Luis von Ahn, co-founder of Duolingo, on why a pairing feature users asked for didn't work in testing
Duolingo had already A/B tested a pairing program and it failed, even though users had asked for it. Research it cited from the US military links the fear of looking stupid with a poorer ability to learn a language. Our first idea wasn't meeting a real user need or adding business value, so we went back to what users were actually missing.
1. Solo learners want real-world practice
Duolingo is built for solo learners but focuses on listening and writing. Exercises like "type what you hear" never ask you to say "I'd like to order a coffee" or "Where's the train station?", and there's no conversation partner to practise with.
2. Motivation fades
Goals are measured only in XP, which isn't personal: everyone learns for a different reason. And the avatar shop offered just three outfits, leaving Duolingo's game-like side underused.
Élise Couture
A French graduate student in Paris, learning English because she's moving to the USA next year. She also wants to visit Japan.
- Prefers to learn alone because she's shy
- Uncomfortable speaking in front of others
- Enjoys online games
- Motivated by visible progress and rewards
- Only uses free apps
The user wants
Real-world practice that doesn't add social anxiety, and personal options that keep them motivated.
The business needs
Higher engagement and retention, and more revenue from stronger rewards and goal features.
Our solution: a village to learn in, where you practise with characters powered by an AI chatbot instead of strangers.
The mobile app
Lessons01 / 14
Lessons now live in a village
The old level bubbles are attached to places, like a café or a restaurant, so every lesson has a real-world context.
Lessons stay, missions are new
Tips and practice work as before. Begin Mission takes what you just learned into a real scenario, different every time.
Every mission has a task
"Our first task is to buy a cup of coffee. Let's go!"
Walk into the shop
The village path leads to the restaurant, where a character is waiting.
Meet a character
Characters are powered by a chatbot. Tap translate to see what they said in your language, or the speaker to hear it again.
Choose what to say
Pick a reply from a set of answers, and tap any word to see what it means.
Say it out loud
Tap the microphone and speak your answer instead of tapping it, for extra XP.
Expect the unexpected
"I'm sorry, I don't sell coffee. Would you like tea instead?" Conversations can go somewhere new, like real ones do.
Characters remember you
"Bye Élise. Have a nice day." The shop owner knows your name.
Mission complete
XP for the lesson, the combo and the mission. Carry on to the next mission or head back to your lessons.
Goals replace the leaderboard
A new Goals tab shows each goal, the days left, and progress in speaking, reading and writing.
Every goal has a reason
"Moving to America" has a deadline, daily reminders and a note to keep you going.
Pick your level
Choose the level you want to reach, from beginner to advanced.
Set the date
Choose when you want to get there. Reminders and notifications follow your timeline.
- The new home screen puts the village front and centre.
- Level bubbles are attached to places, so lessons have context.
- Goal progress sits right below: days to go and a timeline for "Moving to America".
- Finding friends is easier: search and send a request instead of following and waiting for a follow back, and see how far into the village friends have gone.
- ContextUniversity group project, taught online during COVID-19
- TeamHanna Hasegawa, Rehan Rameez, Christina Lukasko and me
- MethodsForum research, a 63-person survey, interviews, persona, competitive analysis, sketching
- OutputWeb and mobile redesign concepts
DuoVillage is a student concept and is not affiliated with Duolingo. Duolingo, Duo and related marks belong to Duolingo, Inc. Lifestyle mockups use stock templates.