{"id":197,"date":"2022-12-21T17:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simonuxdesigns.com\/?page_id=197"},"modified":"2026-02-04T10:29:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:29:33","slug":"wetalk-community","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/simonuxdesigns.com\/index.php\/wetalk-community\/","title":{"rendered":"WEtalk Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Project Overview<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

WEtalk is a community platform accessible by mobile, tablet and desktop environments for either learners of English or Spanish at any proficiency level. It offers lessons, activities and language exchange sessions with speaking practice for all learners<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The target audience of this product is very wide, so we aim to offer a solid learning experience to any student regardless of their current English or Spanish level. We support this with online activities plus local group activities when there are enough users in their area<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Problem<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Students of English and Spanish live accross many regions with a different set of circumstances, challenges, motivations and goals. No every person has physical access to a course or financial means to pay for a language academy. Additionally, many students are unable to find native speakers to practice with<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Goal<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Designing an app that helps English and Spanish students learn these languages in an engaging way through lessons, activities, and social interactions, including speaking practice and language exchange sessions in a community where students learn and assist each other<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My Role and Responsabilities<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

ROLE: UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RESPOSIBLE FOR: Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Research<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I conducted foundational research in the form of online surveys and interviews both by phone and in person with many students of English and Spanish. The research participants were located in Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Spain, and USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data collected allow me to identify multiple user groups with their very unique set of challenges and pain points including a lack of time, financial resources, no availability of classes in their area, fellow students or native speakers to practice with. One thing they all had in common was owning a mobile device with internet access<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Personas<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Two main user groups were identified with definining charactheristics based of motivation, challenges and needs. I created two personas to represent these two groups<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lidia<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Lidia<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Jesus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Jesus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Competitive Audit<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

An audit of a few competitor products provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the app design. I found that these competitors didn’t provide sufficient lessons and educational resources to support the language exchange and conversations within their platforms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WETalk<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Ideation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically on connecting users with educational resources and opportunities to practice with other users while keeping my personas needs and motivations front and center<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WEtalk
Crazy Eights Ideation Exercise<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Digital wireframes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After ideating and then drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the WEtalk community app. Users at various language proficiency levels can find adequate lessons, activities, games and speaking partners<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prototyping<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of joining a group video chat and interacting with the group via chat. After an initial round of usability testing the low-fidelity prototype was iterated upon based on insights from the study<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WEtalk
WEtalk Low-Fidelity Prototype<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"WEtalk
Affinity Diagram: first low-fi usability study<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"First<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mockups<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Design refinements included adding content copy and images for users to understand the purpose of the sections clearly and increasing font sizes for better legibility on all pages<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Activities<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Additional design changes included adding cyan green online indicator status to conversations and users currently online including those within the recent conversations section<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Videochat<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Additional<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hi-Fidelity Prototype<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WEtalk
WEtalk App: Group video chat flow with modal windows<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The tab bar features a minimal microinteraction that enhances the brand identity while focusing navigation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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