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Turning every search into a seamless cultural discovery - A Learning Dictionary for Young Mandarin Learners

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🗂 Project Overview

This project aims to design a mobile and tablet app that serves as a culturally enriched dictionary tailored for young Mandarin learners—particularly second-generation Chinese immigrants. The app introduces iconic Chinese cultural elements through bite-sized reading and listening materials, allowing users to explore traditions, history, and values in an intuitive, engaging way. By offering multiple input methods (voice, handwriting, and Pinyin), the tool ensures equal access to authentic content even for those who struggle to input Chinese characters.

Targeting younger users, I deeply explored the principles of child-centered UX design, including accessibility, visual clarity, and cognitive load management. My design solution emphasizes intuitive interaction, joyful visuals, and emotional connection—embodying my belief that good UX is not only usable but also aesthetically delightful and culturally meaningful.

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Designing a search experience that is cognitively friendly, supports multimodal input, and encourages cultural exploration.

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Building cultural connection through multi-sensory learning—designing a reading & listening experience that brings Chinese culture to life.

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Background & Context

This app was designed to accompany the “The Beauty of Chinese Civilization” book series, published by CITIC Press in 2021. The 12-volume collection features over 300 Chinese cultural icons and their stories, aimed at helping overseas Mandarin learners—especially children—explore their cultural heritage in a more engaging way.

The app functions as a searchable companion tool, allowing learners to look up and explore all the cultural elements mentioned in the books, making it a valuable educational aid for culturally immersive reading.

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My Role

Sole Product Designer

As the sole designer on this project, I led the entire design process from research to delivery. I planned and facilitated user surveys and interviews to understand the needs and pain points of young Mandarin learners. Based on these insights, I identified key opportunity areas to enhance learning accessibility and engagement. My responsibilities included UX research, UI design, custom illustrations, interaction design, and usability testing. The final product is a culturally immersive and visually impactful interface designed to support playful, self-directed language learning.

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+40 interfaced developed

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+100 illustrations created

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4 months of collaboration

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Iterative process

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5 people involved

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