Breaking language barriers anywhere any time

According to Túlka, every stranger is a potential friend we don’t know yet. Language is the first tool for mutual understanding. Túlka is a remote interpretation service and we helped them scale their business by building their mobile interpreting app. From 8 hour waiting time to 20 seconds; this is how long it takes our customer to provide an interpreter when you need it.

The bright idea

How many times have you found yourself trying to overcome a language barrier? Túlka knows it happens too often. They offer on-demand interpreting services to professionals, ranging from doctors to police officers, social workers, nurses or lawyers. A few months ago, Túlka asked Wunderdog to design a mobile interpreting application. The goal of the app was to provide access to interpreters anywhere anytime, meaning no bookings, no waiting time, and no need to make any calls.

From planning to execution: Building an interpreting app prototype

Túlka gave Wunderdog free rein on the application’s design. Túlka had a wishlist of features they wanted to implement, such as a video chat to facilitate appointments and a system to share feedback and user experiences about the app. The only constraint we had was a tight deadline: two weeks to implement it.

Soon after the first planning session with Túlka two Wunderdog designers joined the team. To get things started we helped Túlka define their objectives and clarified the concept of the application. Together we went through both the user paths and the user groups for the application. To visualize the application design and engage the client in the process we used a classic whiteboard approach.

After we were done with the initial planning, we designed the wireframe together with the client. Based on the wireframes, we created a light prototype of the application and re-evaluated the design with Túlka. We used Adobe XD to create the wireframes, user paths, prototypes, and the actual layout of the application. Once Túlka reviewed and accepted our plans, we finalized our work. We created an interactive prototype after designing the user interface and transitions for the application.

The inevitable challenge

Sometimes tight deadlines can make project delivery more challenging. In this case, though, the implementation went very well. We didn’t face any major setbacks – quite the opposite, it was fun to execute and the result was as quick as it was satisfying. We delivered results in a short period of time due to seamless communication with the customer and an iterative and collaborative approach to the design process.

So, how did it go?

Once the prototype was ready, we presented it to Túlka for the first iteration. Based on their feedback we made a few changes to turn the app into a finished project. To streamline the feedback process we used Zeplin - a collaboration tool for product teams. The platform helped Túlka give their feedback to us in a concise manner. The best part of this project is that we contributed to breaking language barriers around the world. Isn’t that exciting?