Little U
A mobile app for children story’s, focused on ESL immigrant families and language-learners
Overview
Little U is an interactive storytime app designed to make language learning engaging and inclusive for families. Initially focused on helping immigrant children and parents enhance their English skills, the app has evolved to support storytime in a variety of languages, fostering learning across cultural backgrounds.
Aim
To empower families from diverse cultures to engage in storytime using newly learned languages, while providing a fun and motivating way for children to acquire language skills.
Role & Duration
Product Designer
User Research, UX/UI Design, Prototyping
4 Team members
2 Weeks
The Problem
Families face significant challenges when learning a new language together: a shortage of engaging resources for joint parent-child learning, minimal representation of diverse cultures in children's literature, confusion over mobile apps' educational roles, and limited access to quality, tailored reading materials.
Research
Interviews provided insights from caregivers, young adults, and immigrant parents, exploring their storytime routines, language objectives, and willingness to embrace app-based learning.
Key Findings:
Storytime is a powerful bonding and educational tool.
Children are highly motivated to learn languages through stories.
Cultural representation in story content is essential.
Mobile apps are widely accepted as modern learning aids, especially for younger users.
User Personas
Based on interview findings, two personas were created to represent the user-types:
Linda: A devoted mother who recently moved from Colombia, determined to help her children feel confident using English at home and school.
Anthony & Maria (7-year-old twins): Curious learners inspired by stories that reflect their own backgrounds and eager to participate in class reading activities.
User Flow
The user flow diagram is designed to be intuitive, enabling both caregivers and children to use it independently. Gamified features like reading awards and progress tracking enhance engagement and motivation.
Inspiration was drawn from children's reading and bedtime meditation apps.
Here’s a glimpse of our style guide and illustration set, designed to be fun, vibrant, and modern. Every illustration is an original creation by our team members.
Mid-fi & Iterations
After the initial design phase, we conducted usability testing to gather feedback on our prototypes. This led to key improvements, including refining font choices, simplifying overly detailed illustrations, and clarifying the reward system for a more user-friendly experience.
Hi-Fi & Landscape Debates
Along with beautifying the mockups to hi-fidelity, we also debated whether landscape orientation would be fitting for any part of the app, as it can enhance usability for activities like reading by offering a wider, more immersive view. While it was too limiting for the main pages, we determined it would work best for the story-reading experience.
Main Path Prototype
Story Path Prototype
KPI’s
95% of users improve in the language they are learning.
80% of users recommend the app to friends and family.
Lessons for the future
Landscape orientation was too limiting for most features but worked well for the Stories section. Flexibility in design ensures better alignment with user needs.
Next steps would be
Mad Libs Style Story Time: Provide children with the ability to fill in their own stories, fostering a personal connection to the app and enhancing critical language and grammar skills.
Reminder Notifications for Screen Time: Introduce notifications to help parents manage their children's screen time, building greater trust with families.
More Projects
Coming Soon: Contextual Help
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