Making characters
make sense.
Connecting product logic and visual storytelling in a Chinese-learning experience.
- Focus
- Learning flow · Interaction · Visual direction
- Format
- Mobile learning prototype
- Status
- In development · Unreleased
Selected excerpts only. The full learning system and prototype remain private.
Help learners see
how a character works.
HANZI Bricks connects visual storytelling with character structure and meaning. An illustration can introduce that relationship, but recognizing the picture is different from recalling the character.
This selected excerpt explores how a visual cue can support understanding, while a later interaction checks recall without it.
An image that
does explanatory work.
See it.
Break it down.
Connect the meaning.
Visual relationship
The illustration introduces a memorable relationship to the written character.
Component structure
Bricks distinguish the sound part and meaning cue, with the full character alongside them.
An explicit cue
The meaning explanation makes the image part of the learning task.
A memorable image can become a crutch. A later recall state removes the illustration, so recognition of the artwork is not treated as proof of recall.
An error can
still teach something.
Explain the connection, then offer a way forward.
The recall state distinguishes an incorrect selection from the correct answer. Feedback explains the meaning, reconnects it to the visual cue, and offers an optional hint before phrase context.
Color is paired with icons and text, so the feedback does not depend on color alone.
Revealing the answer keeps a first lesson moving, but an immediate continuation does not demonstrate independent recall.
Support understanding.
Check independent recall.
Recall without
the picture.
Check the answer state.
Confirm the answer.
Explain the meaning.
Offer an optional hint.
See the character
in a phrase.
Continue into context.
An editorial abstraction of the selected recall decision, rather than the complete product flow. The key distinction is understanding with support versus recalling independently.
What I would
validate next.
Connection
Can learners connect the visual explanation to the character without prompting?
Useful feedback
Does the explanation clarify the meaning, or do learners simply read and continue?
Recall over time
After a delay, can learners recall the character without an image or hint?
HANZI Bricks has not been publicly released. Learning gains, retention improvements, and usage metrics are not claimed.