Chata Chata
Chata Chata
Role: Product, UX/UI, Branding, Research
Tools: Figma
Timeline: Oct 2023 - Jan 2024
An app centered at being a reliable resource to learn African languages
Problem
Despite a plethora of language learning apps in circulation, the vast majority do not cater to or carry African languages.
Goal
Provide users with an interactive and accessible app that allows them to pursue African language learning.
Business Opportunities
What we offer the users:
Interactive learning activities
Lessons on culture to deepen linguistic understandings
Access to scores of common sayings per language
Ability to practice with trained AI chat box
User Research and Insights
I took on this venture based on my own experiences. Being 1st generation Nigerian American, it’s not uncommon for children of the diaspora to not be fluent in their indigenous languages. 43% of 1st generation Africans in America speak only English at home, and another 31% report to not be fully fluent in their indigenous languages. Finding resources to learn indigenous African languages aren’t in abundance like it is for languages like Spanish or Korean. Despite the lack of popularity in mainstream language learning apps, there is a sizable niche of learners who are wanting to learn these languages. Music from the continent like Amapiano from South Africa and Afrobeats from Nigeria are growing more global everyday. With this, the intrigue of learning these languages extend outside those who belong to their corresponding ethnicities. And if the accessibility increases in learning these languages, it would allow even more people to pick up an interest, which would lead to more visibility of this niche, and so on and so forth.
Interview
I conducted 6 user interviews from participants who are aspiring learners of specific African languages
People from African backgrounds
People not from African backgrounds
Research Questions
I wanted to learn the biggest barriers and motivators when it came to learning their desired languages
I sent out a screen of 9 questions through Typeform, utilizing a mix of long text, short text, and multiple choice questions.
I then conducted traditional style 1 on 1 interviews to follow up on findings from the original survey.
Competitive Analysis
I researched and pulled inspiration from several language learning apps. I looked into popular ones like Duolingo, and more niche ones like Nkenne, an app curated for African languages. In fact, 66% of the language apps I researched were specifically African centered. I wanted to get an understanding of the current market in this niche. Overall in my research I honed in on UI features that I found were most consistent across the board with these apps and which ones I knew would be most applicable to my learners needs.
Ideation
After conducting surveys and interviews, I found that most learners main resource was was relying on family members, coincidently though, the majority of them are not around their family that often. And even when they are, their family typically defaults to English because that has been their norm for years. For those who didn’t have financial ties to their desired language(s), resources were even more scarce. On average, all the learners rated the ease of finding language resources a 5.3/10, for those without familial ties to the language, that average is even lower.
Given that lack of consistent speaking partner was the top obstacle for the learners, I knew that my designs needed to include the ability to practice conversation while using the app. With that in mind, I began to ideate
Part of the immersion methodology feedback I received from my participants was that music, TV, and films were also helpful when learning languages; many had used these when trying to learn other languages. While studies back this up, I knew I couldn’t incorporate all of this within the app, but I chose to include music as an additional in-app tool to further help learners immerse into these new worlds.
With these interface ideas in mind, and the feedback I received from the research I conducted, I proceeded to draft a user flow chart and Affinity Map.
Chata Chata
A solution for those that prefer the pedagogy of immersion. Allowing learners to be engaged with African languages through customized, diverse, interactive lessons.
Prototype
Feel free to click through the screens and get a feel for Chata Chata!
User Testing
After developing my prototype in Figma, I conducted usability tests to get an in-depth understanding of how the users will interact with the interface. I conducted 6 tests in total comprised of existing users. I mapped out a user testing plan, designed several tasks in the prototype, observed users completing the tasks through screen sharing on zoom, and asked for feedback at the end. I received positive reactions as well as some areas of improvement which I later implements into the final design.
100%
Completed tasks without guidance.
Each user was user was able to complete tasks given to them within designated 5 minute window
All users did so under 3 minutes
Negative Feedback
Stroke border during onboarding didn’t stand out much due to green background
Disable option for “good response”
Translate only few things rather than whole page
33%
Are regular language learning app users.
“Regular” is measured by weekly usage
All users have used language apps at least once beforehand
Top Takeaways
Positive Feedback
Music and AI conversation was impressive and appreciated inclusion
Having multiple learning categories
83%
Pointed out that the AI chat box component was their favorite feature.
Expressed how much easier it’ll be to practice conversation with a constant “partner”
Appreciated that the feature was on it’s own, outside of the Daily Lessons
Comparison Feedback
Suggested more gamification qualities for task progression.
Additional Screens
Onboarding through Gmail
Vertically scroll to browse through 17 of Africa’s most popular languages
Music listening task
Pressing the info button will shade out the screen and show instructions on how to write lyrics
After selecting Chat Box category from home screen, users then select their AI partner by age/gender and then select from 8 topics.
AI Chat Box Conversation
AI will automatically generate potential responses to aide user
Key board option to respond
Speech option to respond
Everything on screen will translate after button selection
Visual branding
Logo
A play on the word “chatter”, the app’s name is an ode to the various accents across the continent. The mango was incorporated to represent a unified African experience. It is one of the most common fruits found in each of the continent’s regions.
Icons from learning categories
Typography
Color Scheme
Reflection
I’m proud to have worked on this personal project and to have yielded such positive feedback and impressions from the user testing. I also enjoyed implementing a new form of information gathering by utilizing Typeform.com. Once again, I was met by feedback that I hadn’t been excepting. Overall this journey didn’t have as many twists and turns, the biggest hurdle I faced was UI, initially I had intended for Music to be it’s own clickable category on the Home Page, but ultimately I had to concede and implement it elsewhere. And I’m happy that I still found a way to feature music as a learning tool. My next steps are to improve the UX by introducing more gamification qualities per my user’s feedback. As well as tweaking the “translation” option in the AI chat box, to allow the users to translate certain portions per their preference, rather than translate the whole screen.