Language learners
Language learners are LingUpp users who want to improve their language skills and share knowledge with other language learners.
LingUpp
A platform that helps users find a partner with whom to practice speaking a foreign language
The backstory of LingUpp
Victoria Collins came up with the idea of LingUpp ― a language exchange app ― when she moved to Brussels and started learning French and giving English lessons. She realized that speaking was one of the hardest parts of learning a foreign language and thought that having a language exchange partner was the best way to practice. So Victoria decided to build an app that would make it easier for language learners to find suitable language partners. She came to Steelkiwi to turn her idea into a reality.
Solution
We created a web app called LingUpp that helps users find conversation partners with whom to practice speaking a foreign language either face-to-face or online. To make learning even more effective, LingUpp provides useful content in the form of articles, grammar tips, and conversation guides.
User Roles
Chief admin
The chief admin has full permissions and can manage all content and users.
Content admin
The content admin can manage only the contents of training materials.
Results
Duration:
June 2019 – September 2019
Team:
PM - 1 Business analyst - 1 Design - 1 Frontend - 1 Backend - 1 QA - 1 DevOps - 1
Designed light and content-focused UI
We created a design that’s clear, intuitive, and accessible while focusing on functionality.
We opted for three main colors: white, blue, and green. To accentuate key parts of the UI (active tabs, in-app notifications, checkboxes, input text), we used light green, pink, yellow, light blue, and a blue gradient.
Victoria had already designed a logo before she came to us. As for fonts, we opted for Poppins, as it’s well-balanced, easy to read in big paragraphs, and looks nice in headlines and titles.
A web app that matches language learners
LingUpp is a progressive web app, meaning it looks and behaves very much like a native app and works on any device: mobile, desktop, or tablet. Because we developed LingUpp as a progressive web app, we were able to deliver an app-like experience to users by providing features such as push notifications and offline mode. We also achieved smooth performance: the app responds to user interactions quickly, without jerky animations, transitions, and scrolling.
Implemented features
When someone uses LingUpp for the first time, they have to create an account. Users can register with LingUpp via email or via a Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn account. When signing up for LingUpp, users specify the language(s) they speak and the language(s) they want to learn or improve, along with their level in each language (beginner, intermediate, advanced, fluent, native).
If a user forgets their password, they can reset it by entering their email address.
To set up an account completely, a user needs to provide personal information such as a username, photo, job title, gender, date of birth, interests, bio and goals, availability, location (city and district), and learning format (online or face-to-face). Users can edit their profiles at any time.
Every time a user logs in, LingUpp takes them to their dashboard. The personal dashboard page contains weekly grammar tips, hot articles, and a history of the user’s last conversations. At the top of the dashboard is a counter displaying the total number of active users in the app and conversation guides ― sets of questions or sentences grouped by topics that can be used as conversation starters with language partners.
A user can search for a language partner using different filters such as language and level. When a user finds a profile they like, they can add it to their favorites. Users can also browse profile details, including personal information, language skills, and available time slots.
If users want to practice their language skills through online conversations, they can chat. LingUpp shows message statuses so users can see if their language partners have read their messages.
On the messages screen, users can browse their chats and delete conversations.
Notifications are one of the best drivers of user retention and engagement. LingUpp notifies users about new messages and sends registration confirmation and password reset emails.
Technology Stack
