Overview

App Statement

Duration

Nigero Kanji is my third team project at Apple Developer Academy. This project lasted for 1 month from 5 July 2021 until 12 August 2021.

My Role

Our team consist of 6 people from various backgrounds. 1 as a product manager, 3 as iOS developer, and 2 as UI/UX designer. In this project, I am responsible as the UI/UX designer. Here is my job description:

• Desktop research
• User interviews
• Concept testing
• Create Lo-fi (wireframe), Mid-fi, and Hi-fi design
• Prototyping
• Usability Testing

Tools

• InVision, Mural, Notion : for empathizing, defining, and ideation phase
• Balsamiq : for designing wireframe/Lo-Fi (Low Fidelity)
• Sketch : for designing Hi-Fi (High Fidelity)

Process

Empathise

This team was formed to solve a problem that is experienced by one of our team member’s friend, namely Difgy. Difgy is a Japanese language student in Indonesia. He is studying Japanese because he planned to work in Japan. He has passed JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) N5. However, he faced difficulties when studying the N4 level. To solve his problem, we need to empathize with his problem.

Problems

In order to be able to work or study in Japan, someone must have passed in JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) certification. To pass the N4, we need to know about 300 kanji and 1,500 vocabulary words and we need at a good level of Japanese, understanding simple and intermediate grammar structures that can at least be used in a small conversation in Japanese. And also, there is a time limitation in every JLPT.

Therefore, the learner should be able to read and understand the text faster and to be able to read faster, they have to memorize kanji.

Key Findings from Interviews with Users

We interviewed 8 Japanese language learners from various backgrounds. All of them have difficulties in learning Japanese because of various reasons. 1 of the reason that is experienced by everyone is that there is a lot of kanji and it is complex. That is why it is hard to memorize it.

Key Findings from Desktop Research

We found out that a lot of Japanese language learners found a difficulty to memorize in long term. From that, we must find a way to increase long-term memory. Prior research has shown that spaced-repetition testing increases long-term memory retention (Roediger & Butler, 2011; Wozniak, 1990). It is a method that has been proven to help someone learn new things. The basic principle of spaced repetition is to introduce new things (such as kanji) and plant them into long-term memory through repeated and spaced exposure.