About the project

Learning a new language should feel rewarding, but writing often becomes an exercise in frustration. A single sentence can send learners bouncing between Google Translate, dictionaries, conjugation websites, and Reddit threads just to find the right word. By the time they return to what they were writing, the original thought is often gone.

I experienced this firsthand while learning French and started wondering if there was a better way.

Folio began with a simple question.

As the co-founder and founding UX/UI designer, I led the product from discovery research and interaction design to branding, prototyping, and beta testing alongside my co-founder.

The challenge wasn't teaching people a language. Plenty of apps already do that well.

Most existing platforms focus on consuming content through flashcards, lessons, or quizzes. Very few support the messy process of actually producing language, where learners hesitate, search for vocabulary, second guess themselves, and often give up before finishing a paragraph.

I wanted to understand what was really causing that friction before designing a solution.

Before opening Figma, I conducted six user interviews using the Mom Test framework. The conversations focused entirely on participants' existing habits and frustrations rather than validating an idea. Velocity's Cornerstone program at the University of Waterloo provided a clear guide to the interviewing process. Two questions consistently generated the richest insights:

• “What's one thing you wish someone had already solved about language learning?”
• “If you could describe your ideal language learning tool to a friend, what would it have?”

I spoke with independent language learners ranging from complete beginners to B2 level studying French, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, and Japanese. I also interviewed a university French professor with over twenty years of teaching experience to better understand challenges from an educator's perspective. Although every learner had a different routine, the same frustrations surfaced again and again. The strongest insight wasn't about vocabulary or grammar. It was actually about trying to keep up their momentum.

Every participant described losing their train of thought after switching between multiple apps while writing. Two participants had already tried keeping journals in their target language but eventually stopped, not because they disliked journaling, but because the process required too much effort.

That was the moment everything clicked. The writing habit already existed.

The problem: friction was the biggest demotivator.

The interviews also changed who we were designing for.

Initially, we assumed Folio was for anyone learning a language. Research quickly proved otherwise.

Four clear personas emerged throughout the interviews:

• International students writing assignments and emails in a second language.
• Professionals communicating under real workplace pressure.
• Bilingual individuals trying to express more personal or complex ideas with friends and family.
• Intermediate learners who consumed plenty of content but rarely practiced writing themselves.

These insights became the foundation for every product decision that followed.

Rather than replacing every language learning tool, Folio focuses on the moment learners struggle most: writing.

I designed a distraction-free writing space where users can translate words inline, automatically save vocabulary for later review, and keep writing without breaking their train of thought.

Every interaction was designed around one goal: protecting the learner's momentum.

Every feature in Folio exists because it solved a problem uncovered during research.

Instead of forcing users to leave the page whenever they got stuck, I designed an inline translation shortcut that allows learners to translate words without interrupting their writing. They easily type in our command // in order to translate right in the middle of their writing!

To encourage users to write, I implemented daily writing prompts, tailored to CEFR proficiency levels, that help users overcome the blank page while encouraging consistent practice. These prompts can be made harder or easier to suit the user's needs and challenge them without being overwhelmingly difficult.

New vocabulary is automatically saved as flashcards, removing the extra work of creating study material after each session. Users can then review these flashcards at any time, making vocabulary retention easier and more effective.

In order to help users track their progress, I implemented a progress bar that shows users how much they have written, how many words they have learned, how often they have written, and how much translation have they used.

Throughout the process, I continually asked one question.

If the answer was no, it didn't make the product.

Once we built a working prototype, I invited two of the original interview participants back to test the experience, followed by additional beta testing sessions. Watching someone use the product revealed problems we never noticed while designing it. The inline translation shortcut wasn't discoverable without explanation, so I redesigned onboarding to introduce it immediately. Some key improvements made included:

The proof of concept was not a success as many users were unable to quickly understand how to use the product. They thought starting a new writing session required too many mouse clicks. Even though they were amazed by how you can translate words inline, the overall experience was not intuitive, and not fun to use.

As testing continued, the interface became progressively simpler. We removed unnecessary visual elements, reduced distractions, and introduced editable journal entries after users expressed wanting to revisit unfinished thoughts instead of constantly starting over.

After countless reiterations, github PR requests, constant feedback prioritization, debugging and refinement, we are proud to announce that our beta version is now live and available for anyone to try!

We stayed true to the 4 features that were created to target 4 reaccurring problems found in our research: write, translate, practice, and progress. And even included ways for users to personalize their experiences.

Our beta version supports over 160 languages and we're working on refining the accuracy of the translations for the languages we support.

Building Folio reinforced something I now carry into every project. Good UX isn't about adding features. It's about removing the friction that prevents people from achieving what they already want to do.

Learning how to design a better interface, one that is more visually appealing is one thing. But after building Folio, I realized that the biggest lesson was learning how much clarity comes from listening before building.

By grounding every design decision in real conversations, we avoided months of building features people didn't actually need and instead focused on creating a product that supports the natural rhythm of language learning.