Case Study: BeLingual
I participated in the design of a language learning platform focused on improving English speaking practices that could then be applied to real life environments like the work place.
Background
What you need to know before we get started…
Brief
BeLingual needed a new, functional platform where both tutors and students would be able to liaise with one another concerning homework, attendance, grading and a place for extra learning. They also wanted a data driven platform that tracked learning and performance. Their current set up uses Google Slides and Pear deck which fails to cover the administrative side of things and makes it difficult to scale the business.
Approach
For this project I followed the Double Diamond process, this meant my first step was doing in depth research using various methods such as interviews to gain a well rounded, holistic overview of the project, clients and potential users before moving onto ideation and prototyping.
Solution
We delivered to BeLingual a platform where students can stay on track with their learning using graphs to show their strengths and weakness based on test scores and performances in class. Machine Learning AI could also potentially be used to provide feedback and make suggestions based on what to prioritize in terms of learning. There are also games to encourage independent study time and opportunities to learn with other students on the platform.
Possible Impact
Positively impact student - teacher relationships communication through the platform would be more transparent and efficient.
Improvement in grades across all students with the use of AI as a teaching assistant.
Students will be more motivated to continue learning with a gamified approach to learning.
Opportunities for students to build communities with others who can relate to them while learning from each other, this will improve learning and increase referrals for BeLingual.
Discover
In this first step I wanted to gather as much information as possible concerning the business, the market and potential users to ensure every decision made and idea created was well informed. I used a series of research methods including desk research to collect secondary data and interviews to obtain primary data. Screener Surveys were conducted before the user interviews to ensure only people who could actually be potential users were interviewed in order to gain valid insights.
Competitor Analysis Table
Screener Survey For Users Results
Stakeholder Interview Findings
A deep dive into all things users and stakeholders…
To grow into a B2B whiles keeping students at the centre
Focus on Latin American students and making the platform more personal, interactive and different from competitors.
To give teachers simple and supportive tools.
More efficiency and transparency within schools
Define
Get to know the user and their problems…
After gathering all the information I started to make sense of everything by synthesizing the data. The method I used to do this was affinity mapping. The affinity map helped me to address the most common behaviours, problems and desires of the users, which I then prioritised moving forward. This then helped me create a user story, persona, experience map, problem statement and hypothesis. Defining the persona and experience map specifically helped me to gain a better understanding of what the users goals, motivations and pain points were.
Affinity Map
The common themes we noticed based of the affinity map which came from the user interviews:
Users preferred language-learning apps that used a gamified model, as the positive reinforcement helped them stay consistent in their learning and made the experience more enjoyable.
However, users noticed that what they learned in these apps was not always applicable in real conversations. Because of this lack of real-life context, many felt the apps were a waste of time.
Additionally, many users found that even if they understood a language while learning it in an app, they struggled to understand people with different accents, despite those people speaking a language they technically knew.
User Story
A call centre employee, I would like to communicate naturally with my clients so that I can express myself with more confidence and coherence.
As a call centre employee, I want to practice speaking English in a relaxed way, so that I feel more confident when talking to customers.
Persona
Experience Map
Problem Statement
Elisa, a striving communicator, needs English learning that’s aligned with her workplace communication because general courses don’t help her feel prepared for job-specific situations.
Hypothesis
We believe creating a platform that uses immersive features and the opportunity to learn with native English speakers will equip users like Elisa to communicate better in the workplace and feel confident whiles at work. We will know this when we see better scores in her learning performance and she leaves a good review.
Develop
Now time to solve our user’s problems…
During the development stage I used ideation techniques like Crazy 8’s with the rest of the design team to generate as many ideas as possible which we then filtered to the most relevant and feasible ideas. Once we had agreed on the features that we would design we then focused on the information architecture of the entire platform. We used methods like card sorting to determine the structure and overall organisation of the platform before moving onto user flows which outlined every step the user will take to perform a desirable action. The user flow informed the wireframes created.
Below is user flow for the feature that I worked on:
User Flow
Paper Wireframe
*BeLingual Dashboard*
*Peer Chat Feature: Page 1*
*Peer Chat Feature: Page 2*
*Peer Chat Feature: Page 3*
Deliver
We made a few changes…
“If you want to promote ‘English Around the World’ and ‘Peer Chat’, I think they should look like something you can click rather than just a piece of text.”
“Do I really need to click ‘Continue’ every time? Can’t it just move to the next step once I make a selection? And if I choose the wrong one, I’d like an option to go back.”
Users would get frustrated when they got to the summary page and have to make changes by clicking through the whole process again.
“Shouldn’t the AI assistant be sticky or pinned to the top? That’s how most platforms do it now.”
*BeLingual Dashboard*
*Peer Chat Feature: Select Topic*
*Peer Chat Feature: View Partners*
*Peer Chat Feature: Summary*
Usability Testing
I carried out usability testing on the low-fidelity prototypes with the same participants from the user interview stage.
This allowed me to observe how users interacted with the platform in a realistic context and identify any issues before moving toward the final product. To achieve this, I provided each participant with a clear, realistic task scenario designed to produce a specific outcome.
The insights gained from these tests directly informed the iterations made in the high-fidelity prototype.
Task Scenario
“You are interested in improving your English language skills and would like to set up a conversation with one of BeLingual’s top rated experts. You have time on your lunch break on Monday. Show me how you would do this.”
Users Responses
The responses we got from user testing are as follows:
Iterations
Reflection
What I would like to add…
I believe the platform we developed has strong potential—that enhanced the learning experience for students. If given more time, I would have explored the tutor’s side of the platform which would have included a feature for attendance, grading, setting homework, individual student performance review and overall class performance review.
I also would have introduced machine learning AI to support teachers with marking and feedback. For example, an AI assistant could analyze student performance data to recommend focus areas for upcoming lessons, and even generate tailored lesson plans and progress timelines for tutors to use.
Key Takeaways…
This was my first time working on a real client project, and I’ve taken so much away from the experience. One of the most valuable lessons I learned is that users must come first. While technical feasibility and business viability are essential considerations, human desirability outweighs them. A design is only truly worthwhile if users are at the center of it.
Overall, I’m proud of the final product. It not only meets the business requirements but also addresses user needs and concerns—making it both functional and meaningful.
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