What is Duolingo?
Duolingo is an educational platform that uses gamified lessons to make learning fun. It's known for language courses but has expanded into other fields.
Duolingo Real World Missions
A feature that shifts public perception of Duolingo by fostering community connection through shared mistakes and embarrassing moments in language learning. Go outside, speak, review what you said, and share your mistakes.
Timeline
4 weeks
(part time)
My Role
Project Lead,
Product Designer
Context
D&AD New Bloods Award
Mobile App
Competition Brief: [...] most young adults know Duolingo for the unhinged owl which has taken over social feeds [...]. However most don't know their mission is to make education accessible to everyone [...].
But is this really what people think?
Why?
What is Duolingo's “unhingedness"?
The word "unhinged" became synonymous with Duolingo and its mascot's “craziness". Duo has a very sarcastic, “memeful" online persona, on social media posts and comments and even on the famously threatening Duolingo App notifications.
What’s going on with Duolingo?
Users are cancelling Duolingo due to its AI-first approach, citing profit-centered changes. People feel that the once funny and authentic online marketing now feels dishonest. The push for the message that Duolingo gives “free education to everyone" was done after this backlash.
Maybe the unhinged Duo isn’t the only problem.
Research data was gathered from Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, Red Note, X, and news outlets such as USA Today.
Key Takeaways from Interviews
40% of users think
That Duo’s mission is to generate profit
20% of users think
The notifications and the marketing is too “pushy"
0% of interviewed*
Were aware of the AI-first statement made
*None of the interviewees follow Duolingo’s social media closely, but they are aware of the type of content shared
Information gathered from 6 in-depth interviews and 3 informal online chats. Interviews were conducted on the February of 2026.
New Mission: Shift Duolingo’s user perception: from greedy corporation with manipulative marketing to altruistic company.
So what do we need to do?
Don’t just tell Duolingo’s mission: let users feel the mission
Appeal to the Human component of Duolingo
Rely less on the “unhinged" owl while keeping it fun
Make users want to participate for themselves, without “threats"
Avoid using AI to generate the content (don’t replace humans)
The decisions we took
When talking about people and numbers...
To make the 2M+ learners feel real and human, we’ve removed the mascot and the usual playful tone. This way we bypass the user's instinct to dismiss these numbers as "marketing fluff". This prevents distrust, allowing the human scale of the mission to feel authentic and relatable.
Seeing others
Seeing other users helps grasp the true scale of Duo’s mission and reach, even without interacting.
What are “Pinned Mistakes"
The "Pinned Mistakes" are a mural with all of the mistakes done and shared by other users at this same exact place.
Sharing your mistakes on Social Media
Our target audience isn't the active users already on the app. We are targeting those who know Duolingo’s online persona, hence they are those active on social media, with feeds that favor trends and memes.
New points of contact
By enabling users to share their own mistakes, Duolingo moves beyond official brand relatability to true authenticity. This shifts the focus from the company to your friends and peers sharing real stories.
Next Steps
Privacy considerations
Manage user's AI perception
Monetization and viability
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