Good Retention with Leagues

Industry

Education Tech

Client

Airlearn

Project Time

9 - 10 Weeks

About the Client

Airlearn is a popular, AI-driven mobile application designed for language learning, used by over 2 million learners globally. It provides bite-sized, interactive lessons in over 25 languages, focusing on practical conversation, cultural context, and gamified, spaced-repetition techniques to boost proficiency.

My Role

Interaction Design, Visual Design, User Flows

Key Metrics

17%

Following the launch of Leagues, Airlearn had a 17% increase in time spent learning across the entire platform.

3x

Users in the Diamond League (the highest tier) spend nearly three times more time in the app than those in the Bronze League.

25%

The introduction of Leagues led to a 25% increase in lesson completion as users raced to rank higher.

20%

Leagues contribute significantly to Airlearn's high stickiness ratio, which reached approximately 20% in mid-2025

Reimagining a Competitive Learning System

The existing Leagues feature on Airlearn was designed as a lightweight competitive layer, but over time it revealed clear limitations. User awareness was low, engagement dropped sharply outside of promotion weeks, and the experience felt disconnected from the core learning journey. Most importantly, the system failed to create strong emotional stakes—users neither felt rewarded for winning nor motivated when they lost.

What's the Mission?

The goal of this redesign was to transform Leagues from a passive leaderboard into a game-like progression system that drives sustained engagement, increases the k-factor through social competition, and reinforces learning consistency.

UX Strategy: Leveraging Social Facilitation

◆ The UX is designed around a weekly cycle ending Sunday night. This creates a habitual climax where engagement spikes as users battle to stay in the Diamond League. ◆ By flattening all languages into a single metric (XP), the UX makes competition possible across diverse subjects. However, this creates a UX flaw: it prioritizes "XP-farming" (doing easy stories) over "actual learning" (new, difficult lessons). ◆ The backend UX places users in groups of 30 with similar activity levels. This ensures the competition always feels "just out of reach," preventing users from feeling like they’ve won too easily or lost too badly.

Project Gallery Image for 50% width of the screen #1

Project Gallery Image for 50% width of the screen #2

UI Design

◆ The UI uses color-coded zones: a green "Promotion Zone" at the top and a red "Demotion Zone" at the bottom. This creates immediate visual anxiety if a user falls into the red, triggering an immediate "need" to do one more lesson. ◆ When a user passes another on the leaderboard, the UI often triggers a notification or a subtle visual shift. This real-time feedback loop keeps users checking the app repeatedly in the final hours of a league.

Ownership and Impact

Every visual element was purpose-built to reinforce motivation, clarity, and emotional payoff. The result is a scalable competitive framework that aligns with Airlearn’s learning goals while significantly increasing engagement depth and social retention.

Good Retention with Leagues

Industry

Education Tech

Client

Airlearn

Project Time

9 - 10 Weeks

About the Client

My Role

Interaction Design, Visual Design, User Flows

Key Metrics

Key Metrics

17%

17%

Following the launch of Leagues, Airlearn had a 17% increase in time spent learning across the entire platform.

Following the launch of Leagues, Airlearn had a 17% increase in time spent learning across the entire platform.

3x

3x

Users in the Diamond League (the highest tier) spend nearly three times more time in the app than those in the Bronze League.

Users in the Diamond League (the highest tier) spend nearly three times more time in the app than those in the Bronze League.

25%

25%

The introduction of Leagues led to a 25% increase in lesson completion as users raced to rank higher.

The introduction of Leagues led to a 25% increase in lesson completion as users raced to rank higher.

20%

20%

Leagues contribute significantly to Airlearn's high stickiness ratio, which reached approximately 20% in mid-2025

Leagues contribute significantly to Airlearn's high stickiness ratio, which reached approximately 20% in mid-2025

Reimagining a Competitive Learning System

Reimagining a Competitive Learning System

Reimagining a Competitive Learning System

What's the Mission?

What's the Mission?

What's the Mission?

The goal of this redesign was to transform Leagues from a passive leaderboard into a game-like progression system that drives sustained engagement, increases the k-factor through social competition, and reinforces learning consistency.

UX Strategy: Leveraging Social Facilitation

UX Strategy: Leveraging Social Facilitation

UI Design

UI Design

Ownership and Impact

Ownership and Impact

Every visual element was purpose-built to reinforce motivation, clarity, and emotional payoff. The result is a scalable competitive framework that aligns with Airlearn’s learning goals while significantly increasing engagement depth and social retention.

Designing Our AI Mentor