Àwùjọ, designing a warm, structured home for Yorùbá learning.
Àwùjọ is a Yorùbá language learning platform built for learners anywhere in the world – diaspora kids reconnecting with their roots, researchers preparing for fieldwork, anyone who’s always wanted to speak the language but never had a clear way in. Structured enough to take you from first greeting to full conversation across five levels, warm enough to feel like Yorùbá culture, not a corporate LMS.
I was the lead designer on Àwùjọ. I led research and creative direction, designed the marketing website and student portal end to end, and assisted with the tutor and admin portals, which were led by the junior designer on the team.
A harder third space between gamified and corporate.
Language learning platforms tend to fall into two camps. Gamified apps that feel fun but don’t take you anywhere serious, or traditional online schools that feel like homework before you’ve started. Àwùjọ wanted a harder third space – structured enough that learners actually progress through real proficiency levels, warm enough to feel like Yorùbá itself.
Two lesson types, one curriculum, three jobs to do.
Àwùjọ offers two main lesson types – One on One and Group Lessons – both running on the same 5-level, 40-focus curriculum. Group lessons follow a fixed 8-week schedule; One on One students book sessions flexibly around their tutor’s availability. Alongside those is Bá Mi Sọ̀rọ̀, a 30-minute conversation practice session for learners who want to build confidence speaking out loud with a real person.
- 01Show students where they are in the curriculum and what comes next
- 02Let them schedule, reschedule, join, and review classes
- 03Handle homework and recordings without feeling like enterprise software
Lesson first, tutor before payment.
Mapping the existing flow against the PRD, I kept hitting loops that felt backwards. It had learners pick a level first – but new learners don’t know their level yet, that’s what the placement test is for. What they do have is an instinct for how they want to learn: privately, in a group, or just to practice. The PRD also had them pay before seeing their tutor, and people want to know who they’re learning from before handing over money. So I flipped the entry point before the first client walkthrough: lesson type first, then the levels within it, placement test, tutor, and payment last, walking the client through the reasoning against the PRD.
Earning warmth from a bold palette, with illustration as the glue.
The brand direction was bold – big, saturated colors that didn’t always play nicely together. My first passes felt too loud or too flat, until I found a rhythm between the palette and generous whitespace. Illustration became the connective tissue. It wasn’t in the original plan; I proposed it because a Yorùbá learning platform needed more than type and photography to feel alive. To sell the vision, I generated AI placeholder illustrations and designed them straight into the mocks so the client could see it in context. The placeholders won the direction, and she brought in an illustrator for the final work.
Language and type that respect Yorùbá.
Small language choices mattered. “Yorùbá Check In” became “placement test” because it read clearer for non-Yorùbá speakers, and we tested “Focus” vs. “Lesson” as the public term – “Focus” added cognitive load, so students only ever see “Lesson 1, Lesson 2” while the system still tracks focuses underneath. Type was its own hunt: most fonts break on the E and O with subdots, misplacing tone marks over the next character. Finding one that held Yorùbá orthography together was tedious but non-negotiable, and the tone marks now render properly across the whole site and portal.
Landing, three lesson types, and a placement test that respects time.
The website has a landing page, a lesson overview page showing the three offerings, and standalone landing pages for each of One on One, Group Lessons, and Bá Mi Sọ̀rọ̀. Plus Events, About, FAQ, the legal pages, and the full placement test flow.
Three question types, three illustrated identities.
The placement test was one of my favorite parts to design. The PRD specified multiple choice and audio comprehension questions, but MCQ plus audio on its own risked feeling like a dry quiz. I designed a layout where each question type – Speak, Listen, Read – has its own custom illustration, so each variant has a clear visual identity. The test went from a potential bail point to something learners actually want to finish.
Compare tutors as a modal, not a full page.
For tutor selection, I designed the flow as a modal rather than a full page so learners can compare tutors easily. Tap to view a tutor’s full bio, schedule, and reviews; close to look at someone else; all without losing their place in the purchase flow. Small move, big UX payoff.
Three status cards: Level, Next Lesson, Current Focus.
This one stretched me. The team had defined parallel progress concepts: Level (where you are in the overall 5-level curriculum), Focus (internal curriculum position within a level, 1 to 8, surfaced as “Lesson”), and pack-relative lessons that reset when a new pack is purchased. I built the dashboard around three status cards so a student always has a clear answer to “where am I and what’s next?” without having to decode the system.
Quiet touches: unlock, fit-check, always-on feedback.
A few understated touches make the portal feel considered. Materials unlock progressively – a new student sees only Lesson 1, and the rest opens as each lesson happens, which prevents the Duolingo effect of rushing ahead and gives them something to look forward to weekly. After Lesson 1, a quiet card appears, “Does this feel like the right fit?”, visible only before Lesson 2 so it isn’t used flippantly; tapping it opens a form that captures whether the issue is the teacher or the level and flags it for admin. And rather than surfacing feedback only at milestones, I argued for a persistent feedback button – tucked but always there, with course and level captured automatically so students just write what they felt.
Three homework types. None of them graded.
The student portal supports three homework types: Fun àpẹẹrẹ (MCQs), Jẹ́ Ká Sọ̀rọ̀ (speaking prompts), and Journal Mi (writing prompts). None are submitted. The point isn’t grading, it’s practice. Alongside those, students have flashcards – flip animation, audio pronunciation on the Yorùbá side, “Know It” vs. “Still Learning” sorting, and words you didn’t know keep cycling back until they stick. Plus Ìlú Àwùjọ – short animated videos tied to level with MCQs after.
A place to learn Yorùbá that feels like it.
Àwùjọ involves a marketing website and a student portal that feel like one cohesive product: a placement test that respects the learner’s time, a structured path from Level 1 to Level 5, and a visual language that sits comfortably between a cultural brand and a serious learning platform. The project stretched me in ways I wasn’t expecting, especially the website, which became one of the most creative and engaging things I’ve designed.
