Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences students nominated for international UX Design Award

Concept of the dialect learning app ‘HUGO’ wins over jury

Whether Low German, Swabian or Palatine - Germany's culture is characterised by a wide variety of dialects. But fewer and fewer people speak them. The three students Inja Cosma Böhlken, Emilie Seidl and Elias Stepien would like to change that. As part of the Digital Media Production degree programme at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, they have developed a prototype app that allows users to learn dialects. This has now been nominated for the international UX Design Award. Voting is still possible until 22 August at https://ux-design-awards.com/winners/2024-2-hugo.

The ‘HUGO’ app aims to preserve dialects. Anyone who wants to should be able to learn them without having to live in the relevant region or know people who speak the dialect in question. The app was created as part of the ‘UI/UX Design’ course taught by Professor Nicole Slink. In the last winter semester, students were asked to develop digital solutions for topics of their choice and thus improve the user experience. ‘At the start of the project, we collected lots of different ideas until my fellow student Elias Stepien came up with the dialect learning app idea. As all three of us have some kind of connection to different dialects, we were enthusiastic and the three of us then developed the idea further. That's how the app gradually came about,’ says student Emilie Seidl. There are currently three dialects to choose from: Swabian, Palatine and Low German. A test after the first login checks the user's level of knowledge so that they can start according to their previous knowledge. 

The app is currently just a prototype on the students' laptops. To ensure that it can actually be used at some point, they are currently looking for investors and partners to support them in realising the project. You can see how it works on the voting page. ‘We have tried to make the app as exciting as possible. You can play your way through different chapters with five educational games and receive a reward at the end of each chapter in the form of a sticker chosen to match the dialect. You can also add friends to the app and compare your accumulated points in a ranking list,’ explains Emilie Seidl. If you just want to look something up quickly without playing the games, there is also a dictionary. There, the words are explained with a short description, the spoken language and a matching picture. ‘When designing the app, we also took great care to ensure that each dialect has its own presentation. The landscape backgrounds correspond to the respective regions and the choice of colours rounds off the decisions,’ continues Emilie Seidl.

The ‘HUGO’ concept not only impressed Professor Nicole Slink, but also the jury of the International Design Center Berlin (IDZ), which organises the ‘UX Design Award’ competition twice a year. ‘The UX Design Awards recognise digital products that have a positive influence on the design of our lives, across all areas and industries worldwide. I am very happy for our students and keep my fingers crossed that they will receive one of the coveted awards,’ says Professor Slink. This year, 182 projects from 50 countries were nominated. The winners will be announced on 3 September.