Bunpo
2025
An audit of Bunpo, a Japanese learning app.
Dialogues
Current State
Dialogues are designed to help users practice conversational Japanese. However, the home screen's layout mirrors a lesson overview rather than a chat interface, missing an opportunity to drive engagement.
Figure 1. Bunpo's dialogue screen
The interface doesn't evoke a chat experience, reducing motivation to practice.
Chat-like interface inspired by iMessage, X DMs, and WeChat.
Redesign
Figure 2. My redesign of the dialogue screen
Conversations auto-sort by last opened; status tags indicate "in progress," "completed," or "not started."
Challenge tracker accessible within each chat, not on the overview.
Suggesting sentences via a pencil icon is unintuitive, leading users to be unaware of the feature.
Sentence suggestions cycle within the text input, replacing the pencil icon.
Figure 3a. Bunpo's chatting screen (left); Figure 3b. My redesign of the chatting screen (center); Figure 3c. Chatting challenge tracker (right)
Leagues
Current State
Leagues, inspired by Duolingo's leaderboard, gamifies progress but initially lock users out, requiring activities for access.
Figure 4. Leagues are initially locked (left); Figure 5. Bunpo's leagues screen (right)
Unclear activity requirements and lack of feedback on progress.
Remove access barriers; allow users to explore leagues immediately.
No intrinsic motivation to unlock or compete in leagues.
Visual hierarchy highlights top 3 students per league, making the feature more motivating to get onto the podium.
Absence of meaningful rewards for high rankings.
Add rewards: coins, badges, and friend competitions to boost motivation.
Redesign
Figure 6. My redesign of the leagues screen
Homepage Redesign
Current State
Chapters are presented in a long, scroll-heavy list, making navigation cumbersome.
Figure 7. Bunpo's home screen
Inefficient chapter navigation.
A grid view of chapters, with different colours based on completion (pink), in progress (yellow), or locked (grey) easily allows users to navigate through their chapters.
Membership banners occupy valuable screen space.
Minimizing the bunpo membership banner allows more space for the main content on the screen.
Language/proficiency selection feels buried.
The new language and proficiency picker allows users to select their learning mode in a more simplified way.
Redesign
Figure 8. My redesign of the home screen
Monthly Challenges
Current State
Monthly Challenges aim to encourage consistent learning, with three challenge types.
Figure 9a. monthly challenges home screen; Figure 9b. medal collection screen
Carousel navigation is unclear.
Pagination replaces carousel for clearer navigation.
Medal collection lacks visual feedback.
Medals tab displays all possible medals for the month.
Challenge details are not easily scannable.
Challenge details organized into pills: date, deadlines, and requirements.
Redesign
Figure 10. challenge details screen
Figure 11a. challenge home screen redesign; Figure 11b. new medals collection screen; Figure 11c. new challenge details screen
Takeaways
Redesigning Bunpo's core features challenged my approach to user engagement and interface clarity. By prioritizing intuitive navigation and meaningful feedback, I aimed to make language learning more enjoyable and effective.
To learn more about bunpo, check out the (Bunpo website). You can also download the app on the (iOS App Store) or (Google Play Store).
私と同じくらい楽しく日本語を学べますように！