Clavis Sinica
Clavis Sinica is a software developed by a UofM professor to help aid intermediate & advanced Chinese students in their learning process. Me & my team were tasked with researching student needs, updating insights, and designing a functional mobile prototype for the previously desktop only software.
TLDR;
Project Summary
Stakeholder & User Research
Functional Redesign
Mobile Prototype
Deliverables
Research and Discovery Report
Style Guide
Figma Prototype
Skills + Tools
Customer Interviews + surveys
Miro Board
Figma
ChatGPT
Challenge & Goal
Chinese is one of the hardest languages to learn due to the lack of an alphabet, different tonalities, and the cultural nuances.
Clavis Sinica is a Chinese reading comprehension solution created to aid intermediate - advanced students learning Chinese, with features like an in-text dictionary, additional reading materials, and practice tools; it was tested and used on campuses at UofM, Stanford, Yale, etc.
However, due to the long beta process, the software's designs are now outdated and inaccessible.
Our goals are to :
1. Revamp the mobile version of Clavis Sinica to provide tailored & intuitive learning experiences for students
2. Introduce new features to address common learning challenges
Design Process
Research & Findings
We conducted surveys and interviewed a combined 80+ professors and current students of Chinese.
We organized these findings into affinity diagrams, tables & charts to help us better understand user needs and preferences.
We discovered that students and professors want...
Modern and applicable learning materials
Interactive and challenging practices
Culturally integrated lessons
Support with understanding language nuances
These insights helped us to better understand our target users, their motivations, and needs, leading to the creation of user personas and journey maps which helped us in determining UX requirements and brainstorming new features.
Highlighted Design Features
Ultimately, our team of 5 delivered 120+ Figma screens to create a mobile Chinese language learning ecosystem, addressing key learning challenges with integrated classrooms, customized learning plans, and an iterable design that allow for user contribution (i.e. word upload)
Along with these designs, we also created a style guide and UX specifications to ensure a smooth handoff to the development team to create an MVP and tested at UofM.
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