Bunpo

a UX audit of Bunpo, a Japanese-learning app i've used for years — three new features read closely, and redrawn.

i've spent close to three years teaching myself Japanese, which means i know the digital learning landscape a little too well. Bunpo was one of my early favourites.

recently it shipped a run of new features — Dialogues, Leagues, a redesigned home, and Monthly Challenges. i sat with each one and wrote up what worked, what didn't, and where i'd take it.

dialogues

dialogues was the feature i was most curious about. in three years of self-study i've rarely found a low-stakes way to practice speaking or texting, and at an N5–N4 level, dialogues is an easy way to actually use the grammar i've been learning.

they're meant to help you practice conversational Japanese — but the home screen is laid out like a lesson overview instead of a chat, which quietly misses the chance to pull you in.

Bunpo's dialogue screen.
Bunpo's dialogue screen.
  • pain pointthe screen doesn't feel like a conversation, so there's less reason to practice.
  • solutiona chat-like interface, closer to iMessage, X DMs, or WeChat.
My redesign of the dialogue screen.
my redesign of the dialogue screen.
  • automatic sortingconversations sort themselves by last opened, with tags for in-progress, completed, or not-started.
  • challenge trackerthe challenge tracker moves inside each chat instead of sitting on the overview.
  • pain pointsuggesting a sentence lives behind a pencil icon — unintuitive enough that people miss it.
  • solutionsentence suggestions cycle right inside the text input, and the pencil goes away.
Bunpo's chatting screen, my redesign, and the chatting challenge tracker.
the chatting screen (left), my redesign (centre), and the challenge tracker (right).

with this, dialogues feels more like a real messaging app — which is exactly the thing that would make someone want to practice.

leagues

leagues borrows Duolingo's leaderboard to gamify progress, but it locks you out at first and asks for activity before you can even see it.

Leagues are initially locked (left); Bunpo's leagues screen (right).
leagues, initially locked (left), and Bunpo's leagues screen (right).
  • pain pointthe activity requirements are unclear, and there's no feedback on progress.
  • solutiondrop the barrier — let people explore leagues right away.
  • pain pointnothing makes you want to unlock or compete.
  • solutiona visual hierarchy that lifts the top three in each league, so the podium is worth chasing.
  • pain pointhigh rankings don't really reward you.
  • solutionadd rewards — coins, badges, friend competitions — to give the climb a point.
My redesign of the leagues screen.
my redesign of the leagues screen.

a few small moves like these would make leagues a lot stronger, and a lot more likely to get used.

homepage redesign

chapters live in one long, scroll-heavy list, which makes getting anywhere a chore.

Bunpo's home screen.
Bunpo's home screen.
  • pain pointnavigating chapters is inefficient.
  • solutiona grid of chapters, coloured by state — done (pink), in progress (yellow), locked (grey) — so you can find your place at a glance.
  • pain pointmembership banners eat real screen space.
  • solutionshrink the membership banner and give the screen back to the content.
  • pain pointpicking a language or level feels buried.
  • solutiona clearer language-and-proficiency picker that makes choosing your mode simple.
My redesign of the home screen.
my redesign of the home screen.

monthly challenges

monthly challenges nudge you to keep a streak, with three challenge types.

The monthly challenges home screen and the medal collection screen.
monthly challenges — the home and medal-collection screens.
  • pain pointthe carousel navigation is unclear.
  • solutionpagination instead of a carousel, so it's obvious where you are.
  • pain pointcollecting medals gives no visual payoff.
  • solutiona medals tab that shows every medal available that month.
  • pain pointchallenge details don't scan.
  • solutiondetails broken into pills — date, deadlines, requirements.
The challenge details screen.
the challenge details screen.
The redesigned challenge home, medal collection, and details screens.
the redesign — challenge home, medals, and details.

monthly challenges was already well-made; these changes would just sharpen it.

takeaways

redesigning Bunpo's core features pushed on how i think about engagement and clarity. by leaning on intuitive navigation and real feedback, i was trying to make learning a language feel a little more enjoyable — and a little more effective.