Wander
Augmented Reality Concept for beginner language learners
Skills
UXR
Product Design
Prototyping
Tools
Figma
Timeline
8 weeks
Team
Just me!
Challenge
re-enactment of me trying to learn Japanese
Learning a new language means constant dictionary look-ups that break the flow
You see something, you look it up. You read something, you look it up… only to forget it all by tomorrow.
The cycle is frustrating. It quickly drains motivation, especially for beginners facing a mountain of new vocabulary.
Sustained exposure is key, but outside the classroom, opportunities to practice are limited.
Most importantly, this way of learning feels disconnected from real life.
Opportunity
Our surroundings are already full of vocabulary
Every object we pass is a word we could be learning. With a phone camera, we can capture that exposure and turn it into practice:
Context-based
Words tied to real places and things you encounter in real life everyday.
Effortless
No more switching between apps to look things up.
Flexible
Learn in 30-second bursts, whenever you have time.
Solution
Wander: Turn your surroundings into a classroom
Snap a picture of anything around you. Wander teaches you the word, builds sentences you can practice right away, and saves it as a flashcard so you can "catch them all," without ever opening the dictionary.
Core Flows
Capture a word
Snap an object, then pronounce or spell it to add it to your collection.
Mini Lessons
Practice the word in context right away, or save it for later when you're on the go.
Capture a moment to practice writing
Practice writing by describing what's happening around you in a full sentence
Instant Grammar Feedback & Contextual definitions
After crafting your own sentence, receive grammar feedback on expressions and syntax.
Automatic Flashcards
Every capture is saved to a review plan that's optimized for retention.
Learn with others
Explore what other wanderers have captured around the globe, and practice in live chats.
Research
Understanding how beginners learn today
I interviewed 5 language learners and ran a survey with 20 participants with a mix of app users and classroom learners to understand their habits, tools, and frustrations. Here are the main findings.
Look-ups break the flow
Switching to a dictionary interrupts learning and makes words easy to forget.
Dictionary & translation apps lack personal context
Survey participants rated sentence formation and conversation practice to be the most important feature in a language learning tool, which dictionaries don't always provide.
Motivation fades fast
Learners start strong but struggle to practice consistently. Participants rated motivation and consistency to be the biggest challenges.
Busy schedules are a major barrier
Almost 80% of survey participants said they are only able to spend less than an hour a day actively learning and engaging with their target language.
Secondary Research: How the brain learns vocabulary
Alongside interviews and surveys, I conducted secondary research in scientific literature to ground Wander's design.
Context-dependent memory
Dual coding theory
Pictures + words = stronger memories. We remember things better when we see them and name them together (dual coding theory). Every capture pairs a real photo that you captured with a word.
Design Decisions
I explored three directions early on.
VR: too much friction
VR comes closest to the immersion of traveling abroad. But when I tried prototyping with a MetaQuest, putting it on and recharging it often added friction. The heavy setup became another barrier to motivation.
AR glasses: the future extension
AR glasses could be the most frictionless option. There's no phone to pull out, so you just look at something to capture it. But the hardware is still early and not widely adopted yet, so I see glasses as a next step for Wander rather than the starting point.
Mobile AR: always within reach & familiar
A phone is always with you and quick to pull out and put away. Opening a camera app to snap a picture is a familiar flow. Since users struggled to find time to practice, I chose mobile for its accessibility and ease of use.
Designing for learning on the go
Minimum number of screens
I streamlined the user flow so a capture-to-lesson loop so learning can happen sporadically.
Pause & resume anytime
Users control when to learn now and when to save a lesson for later.
Shortcut to entry
Provide shortcut to begin learning via a widget on the lock screen.
Edge case — What if your surroundings don't change?
Users with routine schedules may see the same objects every day and run out of new words.
How do we keep it fresh? We can let them capture beyond the physical world to capture words while reading a book or browsing the internet. We can also nudge new places by adding a scavenger hunt feature.
Takeaways
Reducing friction protects motivation
For beginners, every extra step could become the reason to quit. The most impactful design choices were the ones that removed steps.
A narrower audience makes a stronger product
I started by interviewing learners at varying levels, but quickly learned beginners and advanced learners had very different needs. Focusing on beginners let me solve their problems more effectively, and taught me the importance of screening research participants early.
Next Steps
Development is possible now with AI
When I first developed this concept in early 2023, design existed primarily in the realm of concepts and mockups. Now that there are capable AI models to help with development, I'm currently working on launching this app live!
Technical Discovery
Do more research on image detection models such as YOLO (You Only Look Once), and LLM or AI that will be needed for sentence/lesson generation.