Helping Nigerians in the diaspora speak, read and write their native languages with confidence.
Sorolingo was founded by young Nigerians dedicated to keeping Nigerian culture alive. It helps Nigerians abroad not only speak their languages, but become fluent and confident enough to read and write them.
Fast internet and the shift to online learning after Covid-19 opened a new way to reach them. The brief also covered educators and creators, who needed to set up learning centres, upload materials and set tests, while learners take quizzes, join leagues and give feedback.
What I ownedTeam: Omolola Adegoke, Naheem Lan, Olaide Noah and Tayo Olakunle.
We did a comprehensive review of direct and indirect competitors to see what's available today and where the gaps are.
| Mandla | Kids' culture game | Duolingo | Sorolingo (designed) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | Adults reconnecting with African roots | Children | Everyone, major world languages | Nigerians in the diaspora and their families |
| Nigerian languages | ✓ incl. Yoruba & Igbo, 15 total | Culture through play | – focus on most-spoken | ✓ the core |
| Reading & writing fluency | – | – | ✓ | ✓ a stated goal |
| Tools for educators | – | – | – | ✓ centres, tests, uploads |
| Model | Black-owned app | App Store & Play Store | Free with ads, or paid Plus | MVP |
From my competitive analysis. A dash means it wasn't a focus I noted, not that the feature is absent.
I storyboarded the learner's journey to line up business and design goals. The storyboard shaped two personas, and each one later drove a design decision.
01Abroad, Ayo lives in English: at work, with friends, everywhere.
02On calls home, the language he grew up around comes back slowly.
03He wants to speak, read and write it with confidence.
04Sorolingo's onboarding shows someone like him, so he knows it was made for him.
05A few minutes a day: a proverb, then a short lesson in text, images and audio.
06Streaks and badges keep him going, and every milestone is easy to share.
Illustrative storyboard, redrawn for this case study from the learner's journey and personas.
Ayo, his female counterpart and Mr Fola's son all needed to feel it was made for them.
Language learning is a long game for busy adults abroad.
The goal wasn't only to speak, but to read and write with confidence.
Educators and owners needed to create and update courses constantly.
Generic, abstract onboarding art, or illustrations of real people from our personas.
Ayo, his gender counterpart, and a young superhero in a cape for Mr Fola's son.
Adults and children both need to see themselves in the first screens, or they won't reach the next ones.
More illustration work, and the art has to grow as new learner types appear.
A simple course list, or a dashboard that shows progress and celebrates it.
Streaks, a progress card and shareable badges, next to a language switcher and announcements.
Visible progress and small wins keep the habit alive between lessons.
A busier home screen, so each card has one clear job.
Manage content through engineers, or give the team their own tools.
A portal to create, edit, activate and deactivate courses and modules, and to manage admins and learners.
A content-led product lives or dies by how fast the team can publish.
Extra design scope inside a tight MVP timeline.
The dashboard and a first lesson, rebuilt so you can learn a little Yoruba while you review.
Each step you complete explains the design decision behind it.
An interactive recreation of the designed app. Lesson content is illustrative.
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