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Project Overview

Speak Now, a language-learning app designed for Turkish users with global potential, offers a user-friendly platform for efficient English learning. In addition, it addresses the limited access to high-quality English resources in the Turkish market.

The ambitious timeline demanded finalizing the design within a month, requiring collaboration with developers.Therefore, this tight deadline necessitated high efficiency and agility to deliver a product meeting user and client needs.

Target Audience and Problem Scope

Speak Now’s Target Audience

Speak Now targets individuals who want to learn English quickly and effectively, starting with the Turkish market.Moreover, English is crucial for business, education, and travel in Turkey, but available resources often lack accessibility or depth. The app caters to a wide range of learners, offering a structured learning path.

Identifying Key Challenges

The client identified key challenges, including the need for a comprehensive learning experience that rivals popular apps while offering advanced content. In contrast, existing apps like Duolingo focus on gamification and basics, whereas Speak Now aims to go beyond with detailed grammar, pronunciation, and reading lessons. Furthermore, the client’s vision was to create an app that guides users towards fluency.

Research and Planning

Analyzing Competitors

We researched current best practices in online education, focusing particularly on language-learning platforms. We examined competitors like Duolingo, Babbel, and Memrise to identify strengths and weaknesses in their user interfaces and approaches. Our goal was to understand what worked and where improvement was possible. A key insight was the importance of balancing gamification with real educational depth, which Speak Now aimed to achieve.

User Journey Maps and Interviews

Detailed user journey maps outlined the entire learning process, ensuring an intuitive and efficient learning path.Additionally, we conducted informal interviews with target demographics to understand their pain points and preferences, informing many design decisions.

Design and Development Process

Initial Sketches and Wireframes

The iterative design process began with low-fidelity sketches on the iPad to visualize user flows and screen layouts. We then converted these sketches into low-fidelity wireframes using Figma for rapid prototyping and further refinement.

High-Fidelity Designs

High-fidelity designs focused on clean, modern aesthetics that were easy to navigate. We also incorporated a color-coded system to differentiate lesson categories for clarity and easy navigation.

Collaboration with Developers

Close communication with the development team ensured designs were feasible. Another innovation was the template-based lesson creation system. By embedding hidden tags in lesson templates, a dynamic solution for handling large content volumes was created. A script using ChatGPT automatically generated JSON files from Figma designs,streamlining content management and reducing manual data entry time and cost.

Feedback and Iterations

Client and Developer Feedback

We maintained close dialogue with the client and developers throughout the project. Client feedback was crucial for refining the design to meet the app’s educational goals. As a result, we made a major revision by shifting from a user-driven lesson selection to a more guided learning path. This required a redesign of the main interface but provided a better user experience with a more cohesive and engaging learning journey.

The development team also provided technical feedback. In addition, open communication ensured we quickly resolved potential roadblocks, maintaining design implementability without compromising quality.

Challenges and Solutions

Managing Lesson Content

One challenge we faced was managing the vast amount of lesson content. We devised a modular system with reusable templates for lesson cards. Moreover, each template contained hidden tags for developers to easily pull the correct content from the database.

Innovative Solution

The innovative solution involved transforming the Figma designs into a JSON format for integration into the app’s backend. This streamlined development and saved the client costs in manual content entry.

Final Product

Speak Now’s final design is a modern, vibrant, and intuitive platform for users of all proficiency levels. The app uses a clear, color-coded interface for easy navigation and incorporates dynamic progress tracking. In addition, the app’s structure takes users from basic to advanced proficiency in a logical and user-friendly way.

Outcomes and Impact

Positive Client Feedback

Although the app is still in development, the initial feedback from the client has been overwhelmingly positive. The project not only met but exceeded their expectations in terms of both design quality and functionality. Furthermore, the innovative content management system was particularly well-received, as it significantly reduced the workload for the development team and allowed for greater scalability.

Launch Potential

Consequently, given the strong foundation laid by the UI/UX design, the app is well-positioned to launch successfully in the Turkish market and beyond. The client is confident that Speak Now will stand out among other language-learning apps due to its structured approach and deeper focus on language mastery, not just basics.

Reflections and Lessons Learned

Building Trust with the Client

Looking back, I feel that the project was a great success in terms of both the process and the final product. There were no major issues that I would have done differently, as the project unfolded smoothly thanks to strong communication and iterative feedback. One key takeaway from this project is the importance of building trust with the client. By consistently delivering on promises and providing solutions that aligned with the client’s best interests, I was able to establish a long-term working relationship.

Innovative Solutions

Another important lesson from this project is that sometimes the most innovative solutions are born from necessity. The templating system I developed for the lesson content not only solved a significant technical challenge but also became a key feature of the project that added immense value. This experience reinforced the idea that effective problem-solving can often lead to unexpected but rewarding results.

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