Purpose

Struggle with pronouncing names? Or has yours ever been mispronounced? Names are a big part of our identity and culture, but mispronunciations happen often, especially in diverse universities.

The Duolingo Name Matters campaign was created to make name-sharing fun and inclusive. Using AR technology it helps Gen Z connect, break social barriers, and celebrate cultural diversity.

Duolingo Name Card #Name Matters. Campaign

Responsibility

  • Creative Ideation

  • Visual Design

  • AR Experience Design

  • Product Thinking

  • Motion Design

Credits

  • The One Club Program for Duolingo

  • Edelman Mentors

    Jesse Suchmann, Executive Creative Director

    Megan Skelly, Executive Creative Director

  • Design and Creative Team

    Zixuan Zhang, Kefan Shi, Neige Guo, Gabriela Bastidas

Timeline

  • 8 weeks

  • Spring 2024

Summary

Duolingo wants a fun campaign to engage Gen Z and millennials to inspire learning through young groups. And they hope to create shareable content or experiences within Duolingo’s playful tone and Duo the Owl.

We created the Duolingo Name Matters campaign to make name-sharing fun and inclusive. Using AR to help Gen Z overcome social barriers and celebrate cultural diversity through interactive experiences. We hope this campaign can tackle the common issue of name mispronunciations in diverse university settings.

Through The One Club program with Edelman, we presented our design to other studio team pitch, and finally had a pitch with James Kuczynski, Global Sr. Creative Director, Brand & Marketing at Duolingo.

What makes this topic worth exploring?

Phenomenon and Problem

The phenomenon of mispronouncing names happens all the time in the life. According to Race Equality Matters, about 73% of people have experienced having their names mispronounced.

As part of Gen Z, we have always cared about international students from diverse backgrounds. According to NCEC and OpenDoors Data, nearly 1 million international students from different countries and cultures come to the U.S. each year.To better understand their experiences, our team conducted interviews with 10 students from China, Japan, and Chile living in Western countries. In the interviews, we amazingly felt the phenomenon of negative emotions by mispronouncing names.

  • “My name has never been pronounced correctly."

  • “It's a pain to keep telling them how to pronounce my name, so I just accept it.”

  • “I felt pressured to introduce my real name, so I adopted a more ‘Americanized‘ name."

  • “The professor looked at me and said:’ I know that face, I just cannot pronounce your name’."

Research Summary

We found that name mispronunciation can cause exclusion and pressure. It can impact cultural identity, especially for Gen Z international students.

So… What’s the point here? And what campaign can we bring with Duo?

Competition Research: Learning from Existing Campaigns

After identifying the problem, we researched similar campaigns that highlight the significance of names:

  • Starbucks #WhatsYourName – Launched in the UK, this campaign celebrates gender diversity, particularly transgender stories. While focused on gender identity, it reinforces the power of names in personal identity and multicultural respect.

  • Race Equality Matters #MyNameIs – A movement dedicated to sharing name stories and correct pronunciations, especially for non-English names. It emphasizes cultural significance and identity.

While #MyNameIs aligns closely with our goals, we aim for a younger, more playful approach. And we hope to reduce pressure and negative emotions. Our campaign aims to be fun and optimistic, and Duo’s personality makes name-sharing an engaging experience for Gen Z.

Pain Point #1

Lack of Accessible Information

Many names from different cultures have unique pronunciations, but there are limited easy-to-use tools to help people learn them. This leads to frustration and social avoidance in diverse environments like universities.

Pain Point #2

Lack of Engaging and Fun Learning Methods

Traditional pronunciation tools are often dry and unattractive. Gen Z prefers interactive, playful experiences that encourage participation. Without an interesting format, people may not feel motivated to learn and use correct name pronunciations.

Pain Point #3

More Personalization & Identity Expression

Names hold cultural meaning, but digital spaces often ignore their deeper significance. Platforms like Duolingo, known for their mascot-driven, gamified experience, can bridge this gap by offering custom avatars, visual storytelling, and interactive learning tools.

Question

  • How do people share their names and their stories?

  • How might we make it easy to pronounce names correctly?

  • How might we make sharing names to be fun and cool?

Ideation

OK! Now that we have questions and the information, let's imagine that…

If we create a Duolingo-connected tool that helps fix mispronunciations in a fun and interactive way, it could make learning names easier. We can make learning and sharing names engaging and reach a wider audience.

Timing: Name Share During Orientation Days

In this campaign, we aimed to infuse fun into learning, inspired by Duolingo's playful brand culture. Our goal was to make the introduction of the name less awkward and more engaging. We hope the campaign with the humor and lightheartedness seen in social media content about mispronouncing names. At the same time, we aimed to highlight that name pronunciation is an important issue that needs to be addressed.

Names are personal and essential, but they can also be fun. A playful approach can reduce awkward first meetings and make introductions more enjoyable. This is so helpful for Gen Z and Millennials during Orientation Days, a time of excitement and nervousness. We hope to create a comfortable and memorable by making name introductions enjoyable and lighthearted.

Now, let’s share our product to the campaign!

Duolingo Name Card #Name Matters

Our Solution: Making Name Sharing Fun, Interactive & Easy

To solve issues, we designed an interactive digital experience that integrates social media, AR, and storytelling to promote correct name pronunciation in a fun, shareable way.

Step 1: Creating a Personalized Name Card

  • Users enter their name, select their cultural background, and provide a short story behind it.

  • The system generates a custom "e-ID" card featuring their name, pronunciation, and your story of your name, which can be downloaded and shared.

  • The story section will be a bridge to share your culture, meanwhile, it may bring a deep connection with your identity.

Step 2: Speak & Hear the Name Correctly

  • Our product encourages users to record themselves saying their name to ensure accurate pronunciation and emotion.

  • The video recordings are integrated into an interactive name-sharing feature, allowing others to hear and learn how to say it correctly.

Step 3: Making Names Shareable & Fun with AR & Gamification

  • Users can use AR filters to create fun, visually appealing content on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.

  • Animated stickers and color-coded name breakdowns highlight tone, syllables, and cultural elements, making learning more intuitive.

Final Step : Sharing with your friends and tag us on the social media!

  • Download your Duo e-ID Card in your welt, spreading the cards in your campus now!

  • A social #NameMatters Challenge encourages people to share their name stories. It will also spread awareness while boosting engagement.

Well, I am glad to share our Duo energy project with you! And back to the Pain Points that we have done!

  1. Lack of Accessible Information - Provides name pronunciation, meanings, and stories in a shareable format.

  2. Lack of Engaging and Fun Learning Methods – Uses AR filters, gamification, and social media challenges for interaction.

  3. More Personalization & Identity Expression – Custom e-ID cards and avatars showcase cultural identity and uniqueness.

Result

A great Pitch to Duolingo!

The Duolingo Name Matters project was completed in Spring 2024, thanks to the support of The One Club and Edelman team, our mentor, Jesse and Megan . After The One Club team group pitch, our group had the incredible final opportunity to pitch our strategic campaign to James Kuczynski, Global Sr. Creative Director, Brand & Marketing at Duolingo. Though our pitch wasn’t ultimately selected, the experience was invaluable.

Yes! And we learned a lot!

Through feedback and discussions with James, we gained more profound insights into the connection between brand strategy and creativity. This process highlighted both our strengths and areas for growth. I would like to say it has shaped how I think about brand storytelling moving forward.

Wishes

Polishing the Campaign/Product and Bringing Ideas to Life

We are grateful for the chance to create this campaign. It helped us sharpen our skills in design thinking, teamwork, user research, and execution. This experience has strengthened our passion for bringing ideas to life. We’re excited about future opportunities to create meaningful and impactful products.

Embracing new possibilities and exploring innovative solutions!

For my self-exploration, this project can be a turning point. It has triggered my interest in an exploration of product design, which has also inspired me to push the my creative boundaries.

AR Filter Design

AR Filter Design

We focused on Gen Z’s love for stickers, a fun and expressive way to show emotions, interests, and individuality. Stickers are a big part of self-expression on social media and daily life.

With Duo’s playful and quirky personality, I designed a set of interactive stickers using Spark AR to bring out its unique charm. These stickers add personality to the platform and create a fun and narrative vibe where Gen Z can express themselves and show their energy. Our goal is to make name-sharing more fun, memorable, and personal.