This document outlines an agenda for a design project focused on customizing the Duolingo language learning experience. It provides background on Duolingo, including its founding, popularity, and revenue model based on crowd-sourcing translations. Research included surveys finding most users want to learn for travel or work, and interviews affirming Duolingo's gamified approach. Personas were developed for target users like "The Casual Learner" and "The Immersive Traveler". Prototypes were created and tested to explore adding features like live conversation practice. Next steps include assessing integrating such features and comparing Duolingo's app and website experiences.

1. Amanda Brown | Janice Tsai

2. 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

3. 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

4. User Reviews

5. 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.

6. 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."

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Competitive Analysis

12. 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.)

13. 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 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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)

20. 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)

21. 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)

22. Prototype: InVision
http://invis.io/6G23ALL78

23. User Flows
Katrina
31 years old, Female (Major Foodie)
“How do I ask
for the check
politely?”

24. 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!”

25. Listening Exercise

26. Speaking Exercise

27. Paper Prototype: A/B Testing

28. Wireframes: A/B Testing

29. Wireframes: Iterations

30. Wireframes

31. 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

32. Questions?