Visual learning app concept

Chineasy

Shaolan Hsueh, serial entrepreneur and founder of Chineasy, has a simple aim – to bring down the great wall of the Chinese language and allow Eastern and Western cultures to communicate freely.

She has developed a visual language that helps Westerners understand Chinese written word in a simple, fun and engaging way. She has already produced books and websites on the subject but the interactive world of native tablet applications was new territory for her so this is where we came in.

We worked with Shaolan, and her team at Brave New World, to determine how her visual language could be best delivered via tablet and mobile devices.

After overcoming challenges with the different screen resolutions, we developed an interactive prototype for the iPad and iPhone that demonstrated exactly how users could get the most joy from the experience and how they should interact with the Chinese characters.

We expanded on the intricate work that Shaolan had done in linking common Chinese words (e.g. mountain 山 + fire 火 = volcano 山火) to create an information architecture that works on screen using animation and sound, and makes it easy and enjoyable for users to learn the language.