Tenmin
Reshaping onboarding around an AI tutor learners never met
Tenmin is an AI-powered language learning app built around speaking rather than memorization. Learners get real-time pronunciation feedback, personalized lessons, and conversation practice that simulates real interactions.
I led design and prototyping for the onboarding flow, working closely with the founders, PM, and fellow designers. I also redesigned the review home screen so the tone established in onboarding carried through to daily use.
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Role
- UX/UI Designer
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Team
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Timeline
- April — July 2025
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Focus
- Interaction Design
- Visual Direction
- Prototyping
Problem
Tenmin’s original onboarding asked learners to sign in before it explained anything, then moved through five screens of taps and typed input. The AI tutor is the reason the product exists. It first appeared on screen four, as a dropdown setting for which language it should speak in.
Learners reached their first conversation without knowing who they were about to talk to, and the first thing the app asked them to do was speak out loud to it.
Discovery
Learners didn’t realize who the AI tutor was until they were already in a lesson. None of the competitors I looked at introduced it any earlier.
I looked at onboarding in five language-learning apps. Two patterns showed up: some rushed learners to signup as fast as possible, while others opened with feature lists. In both cases the AI showed up as a feature to list, not someone to meet.
The two learners I interviewed described the same thing from the other side. Both said they would have felt more at ease starting the first lesson if they had met the tutor beforehand. That shifted how I thought about the problem. Learners didn’t just need a better explanation of what the tutor could do, they also needed to actually meet it first.
Solution
The flow now introduces the tutor before it asks for anything.
Four screens now come before the account gate. The first two show what Tenmin is and who the tutor is; the next two cover social proof and what learners get out of it. Sign-in, course selection, and the first lesson all come after.
Tenmin’s brand had to hold two things at once: enough polish to be credible as a learning tool and enough warmth that talking to it didn’t feel transactional. The team explored that tension together. My part was translating it into the onboarding, where the tutor makes its first impression and the tone does the most work. I produced the illustrations by prompting AI tools, iterating until the output landed on the warm side of that line.
Social proof before the account gate
Social proof moves up to the third screen, so learners see that other people use Tenmin before they’re asked to sign up.
Recording your name, not just typing it
The original flow collected the learner’s name through a keyboard. I added a voice recording alongside it, so learners can type or say their name. Recording it lets the tutor greet them using their own pronunciation, and gives them a chance to use their voice in the app before the first lesson.
A review screen that shows what is waiting
Phrasebook and Smart Quiz now carry card counts and time estimates, so the next action is visible before tapping into it.
Outcomes
All three test participants could describe who their tutor was before reaching the first lesson.
I tested the flow with three language learners. All three could describe the tutor and what it would do before reaching the first lesson. That was the specific failure in the original flow.
Tenmin later shipped the illustration direction, the microcopy, and the reordered flow that puts value before the account gate. The name recording did not make it into the build.
