Foccle
A website built to help users learn, Gaelic, the native Irish language that is currently being phased out by English as the dominant language within Ireland.
Role
UX Researcher & UX/UI Designer — Conducted interviews, identified user needs, synthesized insights, iterated design decisions, and built the final website front-end
Design Skills
Figma, FigJam, Google Analytics, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Usability Testing, Accessibility Design, User Interviews, Data-Informed Iteration
Type
Industry Internship (Dublin, Ireland), 2024
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Overview
Problem
The Irish language currently within Ireland is being phased out by English as the dominant language within the country. English is used as a universal business language, media primarily using it, and so many different avenues of the language being shifted from Gaelic to English.
Solution
A website revolving around the Gaelic language to promote users to start to learn slowly and hopefully stay engaged with the language.
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Process
Research
I conducted semi-structured interviews with potential users and internal stakeholders to understand goals, expectations, and pain points.
I also tried to find a frequency list of Irish words but struggled to find one so I had to adapt by coding a scrapper to scrap data entry's into a dictionary. I then cleaned the data to source only 5 letter words and ensuring they were correct words by validating across a second dictionary. I ended up creating a list of over 1,000 words for the site.
Research tools: Interviews, heuristic evaluation, and analytics behavior review
Ideation & Iterations
We brainstormed multiple layout approaches and content structures in Figma, focusing on:
Reducing cognitive load
Clear value communication
Accessibility and contrast standards
Straightforward navigation flows
Wireframes → mid-fi prototypes → usability feedback → front-end development
This was a great learning experience due to this project being my first website development project and user testing/feedback
Solution
The final website:
-Simplified information architecture
-Clear call-to-action & navigation structure
-Accessible typography & contrast
-Streamlined content based on user goals
-Fully built in HTML, CSS, JavaScript
-Post-launch improvements tracked with Google Analytics
Try it out here: https://foccle.com/#
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Reflection
This internship helped me gain valuable insight into the world of UX. I learned so much from the start to end of the project, designing, coding, and researching as a one person team. Using user feedback I learned so much about rapid iteration, taking in feedback from stake holders, and using the data to inform design choices. Getting hands-on experience in a real world environment really made me learn so much so quickly. I also was extremely invested in the idea of building a site to preserve and hopefully encourage language learning to help combat a dying language due to having similar experiences where my family is from in Estonia.
Next Steps
If continuing this project, I would:
Conduct formal usability studies with target users
Build interactive user flows for service exploration
Implement A/B tests for landing page layouts
Expand accessibility testing with screen reader testing and user feedback
