Designing an MVP for a Learning App (Week 02)
I love turning ideas into products that make learning and growth feel natural. Freelancing, experimenting, and building my startup one step at a time, learning out loud as I go.
Last week I started a challenge to help my little brother learn better. The goal is to build an interactive learning app that helps him understand his lessons, starting with Arabic Grammar, since that’s what he’s struggling with most.
This week I focused on designing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), simplifying the idea into one core feature that’s easy to build and test.
It wasn’t easy to minimize the idea; once you get excited, new features start flooding in. But I kept reminding myself: focus on one core problem first.
For me, that problem is unengaging learning.
There are many ways to tackle this, but I decided to start with one hypothesis:
“Stories combined with letting the learner conclude the information on their own before giving it directly is an engaging way of teaching.”
So, two key parts:
Storytelling – Lessons should flow like a story, making them relatable to real-life situations. That helps the brain follow naturally and see how knowledge connects to the real world.
Inquiry-based learning – Instead of giving the answer directly, let the learner connect the dots. When your brain figures it out instead of being told, it sticks longer.
Designing the Lessons
The lesson screen has two main parts: the header and the lesson content.
The header shows progress, a bar for lesson progress and three dots representing quick exercises that follow each lesson.
The content focuses on stories so each concept ties to real life. The story carries through from the start of the lesson until the conclusion.
Every lesson is built on inquiry-based learning. It begins with a small problem, guiding the learner to connect ideas and find the answer themselves.
Because ultimately, learning should teach problem-solving, not just memorizing information.
Designing the Learning Path
The learning path is the main screen the learner sees, showing overall progress and unlocked cards.
Each card unlocks as the learner finishes the previous one.
Cards alternate between lessons (to understand concepts) and practices (to apply them).
I also added a small reward system called “Seed.” I’m still figuring out exactly how it works, but I don’t want it to feel aggressive like streaks. It should motivate the learner without becoming the main focus, a gentle push, not pressure.
Introducing Lumi
Learning often starts exciting but can quickly feel hard and lonely.
So I introduced Lumi, a learning guide who makes the journey feel less lonely, a little friend inside the app who guides and encourages the learner along the way.
This was my first MVP design, aiming to balance fun and seriousness, smart and simple.
I ignored the noise of extra ideas and stayed focused on the core goal: interactive learning that’s easy to test and iterate on.
The design will evolve a lot once I start building and testing with real learners, but for now, I’m happy with the direction and excited to bring it to life.
Next week, I’ll focus on building and designing the actual lessons.
Thanks for reading, see you next Tuesday! 🚀
