Behind the Design: Duolingo

What makes Duolingo specified an engaging mode to larn a language? The reply is hiding successful plain sight. “The concealed to Duolingo is that we’re not an acquisition company. We’re a amusive and information company,” says Ryan Sims, VP of design. “Fun is the astir important portion of the enactment we do.”

More than a decennary since its launch, Duolingo continues to boast best-in-class design, large interactions, and an easy-to-follow UI. It’s filled with amusive touches, similar gamified lessons, hilarious characters, and a learning way that leans connected existent conversations. And past there’s Duo, the famously tenacious owl mascot who achieved viral notoriety for his accomplishment astatine encouraging radical to widen their learning streaks. The app has figured retired however to marque a regular connection acquisition consciousness not similar classwork but a joy.

This past year, Duolingo launched a large learning way redesign. In erstwhile versions, it focused connected a main surface — known arsenic “the tree” — that fto radical research galore routes. “Two radical could walk the aforesaid fig of hours doing the aforesaid fig of lessons, but extremity up successful antithetic places,” says Sims. Today, each Duolingo users travel a azygous route. “We telephone it ‘the path,’” says Sims. “It was a implicit reboot of our merchandise strategy.”

The way redesign coincided with different important update: animations for Duolingo’s fantastic formed of characters. There’s Lily, a perpetually unimpressed teen with a dismissive slow-clap; Oscar, a melodramatic teacher who takes his occupation precise seriously; and Eddy, a fittingness buff with an enthusiasm for conscionable astir everything. Their subtle animations erstwhile radical get thing close are a reward successful themselves. “A batch of that quality enactment was informed by seeing however radical connected with Duo,” says Sims.

The concealed to Duolingo is that we’re not an acquisition company. We’re a amusive and information company.

Filling the app with memorable personalities required world-building — a process not often recovered successful connection apps. “It’s specified a gigantic task,” says Sims, “and it truly conscionable started with our caput of art, Greg Hartman, who began drafting characters and saying, ‘Wouldn’t it beryllium chill if you encountered the aforesaid radical done the full experience?’” And of course, there’s a squad of experts connected manus to marque definite each character’s communicative is consistent. “There are rather a fewer radical whose occupation is to assistance constitute these stories and marque definite they don’t contradict each other,” says Sims, with a laugh.

Duolingo’s attack nether the hood whitethorn person changed, but the consciousness of amusive is inactive beforehand and center.

The lessons are brisk and breezy, emphasizing the gathering blocks of connection done repeated phrases and sentences. And it’s each designed not conscionable to pull learners, but to get them to instrumentality astir done speedy lessons, compelling rewards, and unapologetic encouragement to support their streaks alive. “You larn a connection to link to different human. That’s each it comes down to,” says Sims. “That’s wherefore we’re passionate astir teaching folks to talk caller languages — due to the fact that it brings everyone together.”

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Duolingo

Behind the Design is simply a bid that explores plan practices and philosophies from each of the winners of the Apple Design Awards. In each story, we spell down the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to observe however they brought their singular creations to life.

Explore much of the 2023 Behind the Design series