Grammar Cruncher
Role: Graphic / User Experience Designer
Problem
Our team at the University of Florida was approached by a professor in the German Language Department to develop a German Language Learning App. The app had to be accessible to students taking a wide variety of courses and had to have a backend course development system for the professor as well. It also had to adhere to FERPA requirements around protecting student information.
User Personas
Accessibility concerns
It was very important that we try to comply with WCAG guidelines since this was going to be an educational web app. This meant ensuring the application was usable with a keyboard and accessible with a screen reader. An accessible design system was created in order to ensure proper color contrast and legibility.
User Flows
To insure a quick and easy experience building out and completing phrases and assignments the flow of the average user was built out for both student and professor. Careful attention had to be paid to not captured any sensitive student data.
Wireframe
Wireframes were constructed to visualize both the interface for students as well as professors. Iterations were made using quick figma walkthroughs to show the data input process for both student and professor. These early versions were also shown and tested with a small sample of students from both courses.
Early GC Main Mockups
Multiple higher fidelity mockups were then created using branded colors, fonts, and component placement. Alot of the bold colors and text were pulled from the art and design of the Bauhaus movement.
Early Admin Panel Mockups
This panel served as a usable backend for professors to build course work.
Student and Staff Interview
An informal interview with students was conducted on what features were most requested by students of a language learning platform like the Grammar Cruncher. Mobile apps like Duolingo were cited as very popular. There was also a focus placed on mobile implementation as well as drag and drop functionality for the different word prompts.
Solution
The solution launched and is still in use today in several German language courses at the University of Florida. The branding and platform was also designed to be flexible and expandable to other languages in the future. Feedback and bug reporting features like google analytics and bug report forms were also added.
