Fluent
1 on 1 language learning platform for Tutors and Students all around the world.
overview
SERVICE PLANNING & UXUI CASE STUDY
‘Fluent’ is a 1-on-1 language learning platform designed for tutors and learners all over the world. Fluent aims to help language learners stay motivated and achieve their goals, while allowing tutors to effectively manage their schedule and conduct lessons in the simplest way.
Project Type
DURATION
Key Features
Student
Stay disciplined and motivated
Fluent allows learners to view the progress and revisit the previous lessons with corrections made by tutors along with recorded videos.
Tutor
Effective Schedule Management
You can find important information including student profile, message board, lesson history, and upcoming lesson on a single space. You no longer need to move back and forth to collect information.
Track and Analyze your performance
Fluent provides various statistics that can assist you in more effectively managing your lessons and improving your learning or teaching methods.
How might we help tutors and students stay productive?
01. research
What are the priorities to focus on?
User Interview
user interview
respondents
mins
What I wanted to know
- The biggest struggle of learning or teaching languages online
- What feature they wish they had
- What alternatives/tools they use to cope with challenges
Becoming my own audience
To engage the target audience, I needed more than just “knowing my audience”. I became my own audience and applied myself as a language tutor on iTalki, the online language learning platform. I could better understand the both of user types.
as a student
+10 Lessons
I took English speaking and writing lessons from three different teachers.
3 SaaS Products
I used Zoom, Google docs, and Notion to optimize my learning experience.
as a tutor
+50 Lessons
I conducted more than 50 lessons for students from eight different countries.
Lesson revision
Most of the students I taught were working adults who had limited amount of time to review the previous lessons.
Competitor Analysis
I started off by monitoring direct and indirect competitors that offer the same or similar services as my product. I could gather ideas and solutions as to how to improve user experience by implementing different features.
I then analyzed four language learning platforms from both student’s and teacher’s perspectives. I also searched for the negative reviews from App Store and personal blogs. I gathered insight into their strengths and weaknesses.
Prioritization Matrix
I used 2 by 2 prioritization matrix to categorize the needs based on users’ necessity and priority. Then I decided MVP(Minumum Viable Product) features of the product.
Research Synthesis
After having done the user and desk research, I synthesized the data and insights to find three pain points for each user type.
PAIN POINTS
Based on the user pain points and the finding from the research, I narrowed them down to the critical criteria I need to focus on.
TIME EFFICIENCY
Users want to complete their tasks with maximum efficiency and minimal time spent.
I will satisfy this need by centralizing info and resources.
KEY INSIGHTS
MOTIVATION
Users are want to view the learning materials organized in a single page.
I will allow a space for students to review the previous lessons.
STATISTICS
Users want to view how much progress they’ve made to stay motivated or to set up a new plan.
I will provide various data on a dashboard and a wallet tab.
02. insight
Understanding users’ needs and pain points
User Persona & Journey Map
Based on research findings, I created 2 archetypes and journey maps. It helped me identify the needs and pain points of 2 different user types.
How might we motivate students to keep up with their study?
How might we let tutors manage their time more efficiently?
03. ideate
Helping users achieve their goals easily
Information Architecture
Crazy 8s
After having done the research and narrowing down to a few MVPs, I started sketching ideas on a paper divided by 8 containers. Allocating one minute per container, I could come up with various ideas and solutions for my product.
04. prototype
Bringing values to the users
Wireframes
Based on the research and findings, I finally visualized the ideas and created the wireframes. I helped me minimize the possibility of major error when I designed the high fidelity.
High fidelity design
Data Visualization Dashboard
You can find any data you want to improve your performance. With the insights drawn from lessons you have conducted, you can improve your teaching methods or come up with a new plan.
Easy and time efficient
You can find important information including student profile, message board, lesson history, and upcoming lesson on a single page. You no longer need to move back and forth to collect information.
Stay motivated and achieve your goal
Fluent allows you to view your progress and revisit the previous lessons with corrections made by tutors along with recorded videos. You may find and archive material more easily thanks to timestamps and bookmarks.
Manage your income
Being able to check how much you’ve earned monthly and compare it to the other periods will give you a good chance to plan your next step.
Archive your mistakes
Students can bookmark the grammatical corrections tutors made on a chatroom. The archive contains the timeline of bookmarks that students can review.
Find the perfect teacher
With multiple filter options you can find the perfect teacher that caters to your need and a goal.
Mobile
Users can easily check the lesson schedule and conduct lessons on a mobile phone.
Color palette & Fonts
05. reflection
How can I improve the service?
Usability testing
I conducted a usability test with five users in my target demographic using the prototype to see how user friendly the service is. The test participants were given the following tasks while I observed how they navigated it to complete them.
[Student] Review the previous lesson
[Tutor] Prepare for the lessons
Pain Points
1. Finding the Classnote Review took extra clicks.
2. Reviewing multiple lessons is so much hassle.
3. Toggle buttons are confusing.
4. The Lesson History tab is useful for both tutors and students but not as visible.
Positive Feedback
1. The statistics in Dashboard and Wallet allow teachers to plan their short term goal.
2. The message bookmark feature seems very useful.
3. Progress charts will be motivating students to keep on track.
Implementing Feedback
BEFORE
AFTER
Switched the Lesson History tab to front so students have a more intuitive access to the classnote review.
Added a list of lesson history on the side so the users will be able to review multiple lessons without moving back to the previous page..
Switched the Lesson History tab to front so students have a more intuitive access to the classnote review.
By adding a light gray color on the background of toggle buttons, I made it more clear for users to distinguish active/inactive buttons.
What did I learn?
- Empathizing with the target users is a crucial step to understand their needs and goals.
- It’s important to do thorough research. It helped me define MVPs and focus on what’s the most needed in the user’s perspective.
- Being my own target user provides a lot of quality data and insights. The experience has taught me how to observe the problems in different angles.