ELA Buddy - VUI Assistant Character
Let me take you through my process of Designing a VUI character feature in the BYJU'S ELA app, that helped students to improve their English language skills.
As a product designer at BYJU'S, I have been dedicated to improve educational experiences for young learners. One of my most impactful projects was the design and development of ELA Buddy, a VUI (Voice User Interface) "assistant" character.
In this project, I played a crucial role in conducting user research, collaborating with educators, and defining key interaction types.
Context and Problem Statement
The ELA app, is a subscription-based platform for the North America market, designed to help young learners improve their English language skills in a fun and effective way. It offers engaging quizzes, video content, and live classes.
However, we noticed that while students were engaged during live sessions, many were losing interest once the classes ended. This challenge pushed us to think creatively and come up with new ways to keep learners motivated and connected to the content even after the live classes were over.
So how can we make more Engaging and Interactive post live classes?
We started brainstorming exercise to capture as many ideas as possible and not restricting it to just the insights from literature reviews. Here are some of the final ideas:
Buddies for the Week
Productivity Tools
Educational Games with Basic AI
Character with VUI like a assistant
Live Quizzes
We also did competitor analysis of successful language learning apps like Duolingo ABC, MemRise, and Babbel to analyze their product strategies and understand how they keep younger learners engaged.
Here are some of the insights:
Apps with mascots or character guides are popular among children.
All successful apps have added game-like elements to increase engagement.
While many apps offer speaking exercises, few provide open-ended conversation practice.
There's potential for more narrative-driven learning experiences in English-speaking scenarios.
We decided to move with 'VUI Assistant Character' as the anchor point within the learning journey of kids.
Why VUI Assistant Character, not any other feature?
A fun character can grab and hold young learners attention better, making learning more enjoyable.
It can make learners feel like they are interacting with a friend who understand, motivates, and make their learning experience more exciting.
It can have conversations that can help students practice speaking skills, which is crucial for English proficiency.
The goal was to design a character that could emotionally connect with kids and keep them engaged after live classes, supporting their ongoing learning journey.
Research on Character Development
To capture a comprehensive understanding of the target users(children aged 8 to 14 years), the research was conducted over three weeks across 4 cities in Mexico. The study involved 18 children and their parents.
The research aimed to identify real-life inspirations, kids Psychographics, character types, and content preferences, ensuring that the character could establish a deep emotional connection, encourage engagement, and enhance the overall learning experience.
Initial Assumptions:
Kids build an emotional connection with their character/shows.
Not all kids in a certain age group behave in a similar way.
Personality and real life experiences impact their likes/dislikes.
An imitation of a character's traits from popular characters might not be enough to build a relatable character.
Regular check-ins and observational sessions were conducted remotely to observe children's interactions with various media and educational content in their natural environments.
Focus was on understanding how they engage with characters in games, TV shows, and apps.
We found out that kids attach to things they love, and relate to experiences they explore over time.
Relatability has a deep connection with each kids, personality types
Personality types are not age or geography specific but based on behaviors showcased across age groups and cities.
Their preferences are results of their exposure, personal choice and relationships, which evolve over a period of time.
Design Direction
Kids showcased different personalities along with some common threads.
Each personality had different behavior patterns, associated with different activities/content, and formed a unique emotional connect.
The Inspirer (Imaginative Influencers):
Creative, enjoys challenges, often seen as leaders among peers.
Prefer characters that inspire them to explore and create.
The Doer (Independent Explorers):
Practical, validation-seeking, enjoys mastering new skills.
Engages with characters that provide hands-on guidance and immediate feedback.
The Observer (Cautious Adopters):
Prefers belonging, stays within comfort zones, seeks reassurance.
Connects with characters that offer relatable stories and steady guidance.
Kids enjoy learning from each other. It was important for the character to reflect characteristics of a friend, peer or a buddy to build deep emotional connect.
These connections were built on the basis of personality types as there was a flow of communication between the 3 and they constantly learn from each other. But there is preference on the type of peer they choose to interact with.
Peer Character:
A relatable ‘cool’ character from whom kids can seek validation. Gives out the information that can make them stand out in their own peer group.
Aesthetic: Cool, Trendy, Practical, Empowering.
Tonality: Friendly, Instant feedback and Gratification.Peer Character:
A buddy that challenges, show kids new things and be someone they look upto(not intimidating)
Aesthetic: Fantastical, Futuristic, Skilled, Knowledgeable, Evolved.
Tonality: Playful banter, Witty.Peer Character:
A character with a well defined personality that caters intrigue through its relatable stories and background.
Aesthetic: Non judgemental, Street Smart, Realistic, Story teller, adaptive
Tonality: Collaborative, Transparent.
The personality types helped in narrowing down on the user and leading to a design direction for the peer ‘assistant’ character that would create maximum delight and desirability while interacting with the kids in their learning journey
Meet Ela Buddy
After lots of iterations and discussions, we finalized this cute character inspired by a cat because they are curious and adaptable, much like the learning process and named it as “ELA Buddy”
Here is why ELA Buddy,
Relatability
Storytelling Flexibility
Simple and Attractive Design
Emotional Connection
Content
The next crucial step was determining what type of content and interactions would be most effective for learners. From research insights and discussions with educators and content writers, we decided to focus on two key types of interactions:
Speech-Based Interactions:
Read and Repeat: Improving Pronunciation
Open Conversation: Fostering Dialogues
Tappable Options:
Text Select: Enhancing Vocabulary and Grammar
Image Select: Visual Learning Made Interactive
Final Designs
After each live class, learners are greeted by ELA Buddy, their virtual learning companion. Instead of feeling like another test, this conversation is designed to feel more personal—like chatting with a friend. ELA Buddy helps students review what they’ve just learned in a way that’s both engaging and fun.
We wanted to keep things simple for young learners. The chat-style interface makes it easy to follow along, and the whole experience is friendly and approachable. It feels more like a conversation and less like an assessment, making students feel comfortable and excited to participate.
To keep things fresh and connected to the lesson, each screen changes to match the theme of that day’s class. The background and visuals adapt to the topic, making the whole experience feel more immersive.
To make the conversation engaging, ELA Buddy incorporates a variety of interactive activities. These include fun, educational games like fill-in-the-blank, bubble bursts, and drag-and-drop challenges, all tailored to the content of the lesson. These games aren’t just for entertainment—they’re designed to reinforce key concepts from the class in a way that feels playful and rewarding.
The conversation with ELA Buddy is typically 10-15 minutes, striking a balance between reinforcing learning and maintaining the student’s attention. This time frame is effective for practicing new skills without becoming overwhelming or tedious.
Here are some of Speech Based Interaction with ELA buddy
If a student hasn’t been active for a while, ELA Buddy sends friendly notifications—reminding them to practice, catch up on missed lessons, or just check in for a quick review. With a simple tap on the notification, students can jump right back into a conversation or activity, helping them stay connected to their learning and keep up with the lessons.
And whenever students want to chat with ELA Buddy, they can easily find a dedicated tab on the home screen. This acts as their go-to spot for all ELA Buddy interactions, whether they want to review a lesson, play a learning game, or just spend a little extra time practicing.
Impact
The chatbot has led to increased session duration, and higher user retention, making the first-time user experience more captivating.
Improved the app's usage post live class by 24%.
Parents appreciate the chatbot's role in guiding their children's learning, while educators find it valuable.
Users have improved their pronunciation and gained confidence in real-life conversations through interactive interactions with the chatbot.
Future of ELA Buddy
ELA Buddy has a long way to go. We had multiple themes in which this can be extended.
ELA Buddy can become a powerful AI tool which takes in and learns data from behavior. This is like a close friend at school, he knows what you are good at, how you study, what concepts you like etc. and also suggests deadlines, what to study when there is an exam etc.
ELA Buddy as a Mentor. It shows an analysis of where the student is lacking, performing well etc.
Conclusion
This was a big project. Lots of pages, user flows, and edge cases. Designing ELA Buddy showed me how to create something fun and interesting for kids while still making sure it's educational.
Working closely with educators, content team, artists and developers helped me see how important teamwork is in making a product that really works well.