Language App
Kotodama
Role : UX/UI designer, UX researcher
Duration : 2023
Tools : Notion, Miro, Zoom, Google Form and Figma
Project Context
“>Nowadays, I’ve seen so many people learning Japanese. I think trying to learn new language is amazing thing! The top reason of learning Japanese is their hobby like anime/manga, curious in Japanese culture and sometimes for work.
Learning Japanese is not like learning English. People who learning English is mostly for work or study. So learning Japanese is like additional language skill mostly for hobby.
Using app to learn language is very efficiency way so I designed language app for people who is learning Japanese.
Japanese language
The Japanese language has three types of characters: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic symbols, each representing one syllable while Kanji is ideogram, each stand for certain meaning.
Kanji
漢字
This is a ‘rough guide’ to the range of kanji used when writing the modern Japanese language. Currently, there are 2,136 kanji characters in the Jōyō Kanji set. These kanji are studied at primary schools, where 1,006 characters are marked in the Grade-by-grade Kanji Dividend Chart, and at junior high school, where 1,130 characters are studied. （source: Wikipedia）
Hiragana
ひらがな
Hiragana is the Japanese syllabary. It has started using since Nara period (710-794 CE). Simple characters than Kanjis.
Katakana
Katakana
Katakana is also the Japanese syllabary. its function as a phonetic character.
This is a list of katakana words, aka foreign words that have been adopted into Japanese language using the カタカナ alphabet system.
Primary Research (1 week)
Online survey with Google form
19 Participants
Online interview with Zoom
2 Participants
User research
84% of user learn Japanese because want more capability of Japanese language in their hobby.
Every user using the app at home(multiple answer )
User Goal
77.8% users want to conversation in Japanese
66.7% users want to talk with natives when traveling
33.3% users want to watch movie in Japanese
33.3% users want to read book in Japanese
Who is the user?
Any one between 20-30 years old want to learn Japanese to conversation in Japanese while traveling Japan.
Card sorting (open-ended questions)
What is the most difficult thing when you are learning the language? And why?
What makes you fun when you are learning ?
Have you had a struggle when you are using a learning app? And what was that?
What makes you want to learn Japanese rather than French or Spanish or other languages?
What makes you want to learn Japanese rather than French or Spanish or other languages?
User task flow
Discover the users
Secondary research (1 week)
Japanese language education overseas plays an important role in deepening the understanding of Japan overseas, cultivating individuals engaged in exchange with Japan and creating bases for friendship with other countries. Presently, more than 3.66 million people in 137 countries and regions study Japanese (figures gathered by the Japan Foundation for 2015). More students learn Japanese, because of an interest in Japanese pop-culture, such as anime and manga, or due to a desire to understand a different culture.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/culture/exchange/j_language/index.html#:~:text=Presently%2C more than 3.66 million people in 137,for a study abroad or to find employment.
Source: Ministry of foreign affairs of Japan “Cultural exchange ”
Sketches
Wireframes
Prototype
