Taíno Language-Learning App
Leading a UX team through discovery user research and problem definition for an endangered language learning app
TYPE
Client Project (Pro-bono)
5 Weeks, Agile Methodology
ROLES
UX Design & Research Team Lead
Project Co-Lead
TEAM
UX Designers and Researchers
Product Strategists
Client and Project Advisors
Overview
Project Scope: Discovery Phase
This was a client project, organized by the Tech Fleet Professional Association. As the UX team lead and project co-lead I worked closely with a client and project advisors within a fully remote team.
We successfully:
Conducted a range of quantitative and qualitative research to define a target user and the specific problem this product aims to solve within the complex landscape of Taíno language revitalization efforts
Established early recommendations for product requirements and guiding design principles
The problem we identified
People with Taíno heritage want to connect with their roots and be able to embody and celebrate it in their daily lives, but find it challenging and time-consuming to learn the Taíno language and learn about their Taíno culture due to:
Difficulty navigating the fragmented Taíno language revitalization landscape across organizations and linguistic variants
Difficulty finding credible and trustworthy educational resources that are not from a settler colonial perspective
Difficulty finding a community of people to study and practice speaking Taíno and celebrate Taíno cultural practices
How might we create an accessible and trustworthy language-learning experience that empowers users to confidently connect with their Taíno heritage?
Research Goals & Methods
Goals
Identify a target user and either validate or revise the client’s initial idea of focusing on youth <18yrs old
Better understand people’s current experiences of learning the Taíno language and learning about the Taíno culture
Better understand how and why people want to learn the Taíno language and learn about the culture
Methods
USER SURVEY
(Qualtrics)
USER INTERVIEWS
(Zoom, Otter.ai)
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS
(Zoom)
Keeping Teams Aligned
As the project co-lead, I worked closely with the Product Team Lead to keep our teams aligned through our weekly sprints.
Competitive analysis and a range of secondary research was conducted by the product strategy team in parallel with the UX team’s user research.
Early hypotheses based on insights and expertise from our client and advisors
There’s demand — People want to help revitalize and spread awareness about the Taíno language and culture
An educational mobile app that centers language learning will also spread greater awareness about and interest in the Taíno language/culture, which was an overarching goal of our client’s work
Kids and young people will initially be more interested than adults and can play a key role in getting adults interested as well
Primary audience would be people with Taíno and/or Caribbean heritage and the secondary audience would be people generally interested in learning indigenous languages
User Survey & Interviews
Survey
We conducted a survey to cast a wide net and get a better sense of:
High-level indications of interest, motivations, and obstacles
Possible target regions and locations
Possible target user demographics
The survey was distributed to our client’s online community, Taíno Facebook groups, and additional social media channels.
Our findings also helped us zero in on a more specific target participant group for the user interviews.
# of Respondents: 45
Format: Qualtrics online survey
User Interviews
Interviews provided a more complete understanding of people’s experiences, feelings, and motivations and led us to propose a new overall direction for the product.
# of Interviews: 6 (conducted 2)
Format: 45min, 1-on-1 converstaions
Participant Criteria
Must-Have’s:
Over 18 years old
Identifies as Caribbean
Interested in Taíno language/culture
At least half are parents, caregivers, mentors, or educators to youth <18yrs old
Variable Criteria:
Demographics (i.e. gender, race/ethnicity)
Prior experience learning a language outside of traditional classroom settings
Collective affinity mapping played a key role in identifying patterns in user pain points that led to significant changes in the overall product vision.
Key Research Insights
Note: Our research insights are based on a largely US-based pool of research participants and are not reflective of communities outside the US that identify as Taíno and/or are otherwise interested in learning about the Taíno language and culture
Motivations for learning the Taíno language and about the culture
Users want to reclaim their cultural heritage and connect to their roots
Learning the Taíno language and culture can have a profound impact on a user’s sense of identity
Some are motivated to respect the history and presence of Taíno people by becoming knowledgeable about their history and culture, and by spreading awareness
Users interested in learning the Taíno language want to be fluent in order to:
Read and write
Converse with others
Engage in cultural practices
Feel closer to their ancestors
“I would like to be able to hold a space for my roots and for the culture that is out there”
“There was always something missing. There was a part of my culture that I needed to know more [about]”
“It gives me a sense of completion”
Obstacles
A lack of reputable resources from which to learn about the Taíno language, culture, and history
Intracommunity disputes around different variants of the Taíno language
Context: Disparate revitalization efforts have led to several variants of the Taíno language
A lack of people to practice Taíno with and a desire for a community, which would help maintain motivation and consistency
“There wasn't a place where I could go and practice... and get corrections... I would say that was discouraging.”
“The history of the Taíno people that I have read is from the accounts of religious Catholic figures who lived in these times so it's very one-sided...”
“I guess I'm the only one that has taken it to that level... [With] the language I'm the only one out of... my entire family.”
Changing course —
Research insights showed strong reasons for initially focusing on adults rather than kids
Initial Ideas
Our client initially wanted to focus on kids based on the hypothesis that adults are less interested and less likely than kids to really engage with learning the Taíno language and learning about the Taíno culture.
Kids could then easily engage the adults in their lives, especially parents/mentors/caregivers, in something they are interested in and actively doing.
New Research-Backed Direction
Our research found that many adults with Taíno heritage have a strong desire to learn the language and learn about the culture.
The issue appeared to be a range of barriers that a digital product could actually help overcome, rather than a lack of interest.
We didn’t need to rely on the child-to-adult pathway, although talking to parents and educators still led us to support the idea of considering kids later on.
Crafting personas to further define our target users
I facilitated a persona workshop in which the team collaboratively defined our primary and secondary personas.
Factors that significantly defined patterns in motivations, obstacles, and needs included:
Users’ relationship to their Taíno heritage which tended to be heavily impacted by immigration, colonization in the Caribbean, and/or family relationships
Access to and a sense of belonging within Caribbean and/or Taíno communities, with family again being a big factor
While the MVP would focus on a primary target user, described above, we identified a secondary persona that will be an important edge case moving forward.
Defining the problem & early recommendations
Problem
People with Taíno heritage want to connect with their roots and be able to embody and celebrate it in their daily lives, but find it challenging and time-consuming to learn the Taíno language and learn about their Taíno culture due to:
Difficulty navigating the fragmented Taíno language revitalization landscape across organizations and linguistic variants
Difficulty finding credible, trustworthy educational resources that are not from a settler colonial perspective
Difficulty finding a community of people with whom to study and practice speaking Taíno
How might we create an accessible and trustworthy language-learning experience that empowers users to confidently connect with their Taíno heritage?
High-Level Recommendations
Lessons on Taíno culture and history are important to users, but will require extremely thoughtful curation and a deep understanding of which communities this product aims to serve
Users expressed a strong desire to engage in cultural and spiritual practices to feel closer to their ancestors and noted this is a motivation for becoming fluent in Taíno. Interest in learning the language and learning about their Taíno culture are extremely interwoven.
The challenge will be responding to this desire while navigating the complex nature of how Taíno history and culture exists among different communities who identify as Taíno, but may have different cultural practices and ideas of what should be taught (and how).
Prioritize community — Our initial assumption that incorporating a community aspect would be beneficial proved valid throughout our research
Our target user noted a lack of community as a significant barrier and pain point.
We recommend exploring different forms of community building and thoughtful interaction between users, including ways in which the app can be used to bridge virtual and in-person experiences.
Provide context on the many Taíno language variants and help the user decide if Tainonaíki, the variant we are using, is the one they personally want to learn
Our target user lacks access to reputable resources about the Taíno language. They also find it difficult to understand the complexity and conflict within existing revitalization efforts.
Not knowing how to decide which variant to support and learn is a barrier at the outset and should be thoughtfully addressed to ensure users confidently and actively begin using our product.
Guiding design principles
Spearheaded by the strategy team, we defined fundamental principles that will inform the product requirements and functionality, as well as branding and tone of voice.
Next Steps
This project is moving into an early design phase which will include further research and development.