Motivation
PenPal’s mission is to enable users from any part of the world to communicate without the barrier of language. Existing applications in this space lack auto-translate functionality and rely on outdated letter-style interfaces. We want to empower our users to express themselves in their language, and allow them to feel comfortable being their authentic selves while making genuine connections.
Our target user group is young adults, aged 18 to 35, who are interested in connecting with people from different countries. This group shares an interest in authentic interactions and a common curiosity about different cultures and countries.
Our application facilitates the age old pen pal relationship in an enhanced way – it allows users to meet people across the globe and communicate in their own language while connecting meaningfully and overcoming language barriers. We aim to provide our users with AI real-time translation and message interpretation services to fit their cultural, personal and professional needs.
Process
I
Interview Insights
To help our team gain more insight into the current needs of our users, we completed observations and contextual inquiry interviews as a part of our user research. This involved speaking with three individuals with a keen interest in learning about new cultures: a bilingual graduate student who has lived and studied abroad, an Armenian-American college undergraduate who has studied abroad and is self-studying Russian, and an Amharic professor. In these in-depth interviews, our team learned so much about how people interact with current technology to immerse themselves in foreign cultures, as well as the limitations of existing applications.
To help our team gain more insight into the current needs of our users, we completed observations and contextual inquiry interviews as a part of our user research. This involved speaking with three individuals with a keen interest in learning about new cultures: a bilingual graduate student who has lived and studied abroad, an Armenian-American college undergraduate who has studied abroad and is self-studying Russian, and an Amharic professor. In these in-depth interviews, our team learned so much about how people interact with current technology to immerse themselves in foreign cultures, as well as the limitations of existing applications.
Some of the key user pain points that we noticed included:
–– Time-consuming nature of personally translating text with the help of online dictionaries
–– Trouble conveying emotion and slang in written messages in another language
–– Keyboard accessibility issues, especially when switching between languages
–– Difficulty forming authentic relationships due to a language barrier
–– Incorrect language translations that distort the intended message
Photos from User Interviews
Heuristic Evaluation Insights
Team 43 performed a heuristic evaluation on our low-fidelity prototype, and our team applied this feedback to improve our interface design for future iterations so that it was consistent with heuristic principles. The principles that we focused on included the Visibility of System Status, Recognition over Recall, and User Control/Freedom. To align PenPal with these principles, we modified text prompts and added in confirmation dialogs wherever they furthered User Freedom. We added distinctive backgrounds to some screens in order to prevent user confusion and comply with usability heuristics. We also added methods to undo actions, such as requesting a particular country, and functionality to monitor the status of requests. All these changes contributed to our updated iteration of the PenPal interface that adheres to usability heuristics better than before.
Design Evolution
Low Fidelity Mockups to High Fidelity Prototypes
Final Prototype
Our high fidelity prototype depicts PenPal's interface as well as the following key features:
–– Send and receive automatically translated messages with a current PenPal
Users will be able to send a message in their native language, and their pen pal will receive it in their own language.
–– Accept and decline match requests from people who want to message you
Users will receive requests from others who want to speak to people from their country. Users will have the choice to accept or decline these new thread requests.
–– Favorite a person you've discovered and messaged in order to make them your PenPal
After discovering another person and messaging them, users can choose to make them their PenPal, allowing them to continue the conversation anytime.
After discovering another person and messaging them, users can choose to make them their PenPal, allowing them to continue the conversation anytime.
UI for Log in, Messaging and New Matches
–– Set up or modify your profile and privacy preferences for others who might discover you
Users can edit their biography, interests and other information that may be viewed when they send a request to match with others, and by their PenPals.
–– Discover a new match from a specific country and start messaging them
Users will be able to select a country where they want to speak to people from. The system matches them with a few people from that country who align most with a user’s profile, and the first recipient to accept the request is matched with the user in a message thread.
–– Flag a user you discovered and messaged who is not following the app rules
A user who is having a conversation with a bot or someone who is breaking the rules can flag that thread, which will automatically delete their conversation and block the other user.
A user who is having a conversation with a bot or someone who is breaking the rules can flag that thread, which will automatically delete their conversation and block the other user.
UI for Profile view and edit, PenPal D, and Settings
Messaging interface from the perspective of two different users: Jane's POV and Ivana's POV
Video of UI Walkthrough
Team
Image credits: SmartMockups.com (Behance and video). Other images are self-produced.
