Contributing to a Bootcamp Project: UX Insights
When my friend from a coding bootcamp approached me about contributing to their group project, I was excited by the concept: an AI-powered app called Dotes that generates personalized podcasts to help users learn languages. The app isn’t just about language acquisition—it’s about tailoring the learning experience to individual needs, interests, and skill levels, using advanced AI to create dynamic content.
As a UX/UI designer, I had the chance to collaborate closely with a team of developers working under an accelerated timeline. This experience allowed me to contribute to the ideation phase of the app and deliver key design deliverables that helped shape the user experience.
The Vision Behind Dotes
Dotes is an AI language-learning app designed to adapt to the user over time. It provides:
Customizable podcast prompts: Users can input unique topics like “funny history” or “science basics” to generate personalized content.
Tailored difficulty: The app matches content to the user’s skill level, from beginner to advanced.
Diverse voices and tones: Users can select an AI voice that matches their preferences, enhancing the listening experience.
Flexible learning styles: Whether casual or professional, Dotes accommodates various study paces and preferences.
The goal of Dotes is to make language learning accessible, engaging, and effective for learners of all kinds. Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of this app is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your experience can evolve with it.
My Contributions
1. Style Guide Development
To maintain a cohesive brand identity, I created a style guide that reflected the app’s mission of accessibility and warmth. The design leaned toward an academic but inviting aesthetic with a serif typeface for headers and a warm, cozy color palette of muted oranges, reds, golds, and blues. This balance ensured that the app felt approachable yet professional.
2. User Personas and Journeys
I developed two key user personas to guide design decisions:
Maya, a casual learner seeking fun, lighthearted engagement.
Luis, an intensive learner striving for fluency through rigorous study.
By crafting detailed user journeys for both personas, I identified potential pain points and designed features to address them. For instance, Maya values ease of use and diverse content, while Luis prioritizes progress tracking and advanced challenges.
3. Wireframes for Onboarding
To create an intuitive user experience, I designed wireframes for the onboarding flow, inspired by Duolingo’s friendly and guided process. This included:
A series of questions to assess language, skill level, and study style.
A personalized content prompt screen where users could type their interests.
A clean, user-friendly design for the main content-generation page.
These wireframes laid the foundation for the developers to bring the app to life while ensuring a seamless and personalized user journey.
Collaboration with Developers
Working on a team of developers in a coding bootcamp setting was a unique experience. With a tight timeline, communication and adaptability were crucial. I focused on delivering designs that were not only user-centered but also feasible to implement using Bootstrap components. This collaborative environment gave me valuable insight into how design and development intersect, particularly under real-world constraints.
The rapid iteration process taught me how to prioritize effectively, balance creativity with practicality, and align design choices with technical capabilities.
Takeaways
This project was a fantastic opportunity to practice design thinking in a collaborative, fast-paced environment. While my primary focus was on the ideation phase, the experience expanded my understanding of cross-functional teamwork and the nuances of creating user-friendly solutions.
For me, Dotes represents more than an app—it’s an approach to making learning personal, engaging, and accessible. This project is a testament to how thoughtful design and innovative technology can work together to solve real user needs.
See the Designs
Check out the style guide, user personas, and onboarding wireframes I created for Dotes!