Hannah Mc Sherry is a committed and passionate designer with a strong interest in illustrative solutions in design. She has a flexible style and approach which allows her to work well both independently and as part of a team, and permits her to work on a variety of design projects. She especially has a great interest in design which draws upon art history while remaining fresh and contemporary. Across all projects, her work is sparked by ideas that keep her designs exciting.
Duolingo was founded on the idea that learning should be fun. But even the most dedicated learner can eventually lose passion and stop. What can help people feel passionate about languages for longer, and keep them using the app?
That’s where Duolingo Wordplay comes in. Keeping with the app’s dedication to making learning enjoyable, this card game teaches what isn’t available anywhere else. This game is all about the joy of expression—teaching learners the slang, idioms and colloquialisms that make a language unique.
Designed to be played either solo or with multiple players, the idea is simple. The cards are double-sided. Playing green side up means you’ll be translating from the foreign language back to your own. Blue side up is vice-versa. The aim of the game is to collect as many cards as possible by successfully translating the phrase before the minute sand-timer runs out. Idiom cards come with a literal and figurative translation, so the player knows exactly what’s happening. Every phrase has a phonetic pronunciation guide (green side up), so players won’t get stuck.
Complete with an original cast of characters, Duolingo Wordplay encourages players to keep learning the standard language on the app while getting a dose of the real lingo. And for those who pay close attention, they’ll be able to spot all kinds of connections between the characters. Native language isn’t just for natives now.
Created in response to the RSA’s ‘Moving Pictures’ brief for audio-visual work, this animation explores how one person can create positive change through small actions. Kate Raworth’s original audio clip speaks to the big difference we as a society need to make in order to make the world a fairer place for all, so the message of the visuals refines this into a small story of someone making space for nature. This character could be the stand in for the viewer, and the nature shown in the video can be read as a metaphor for the both the natural world and workers we exploit, as Raworth says, “in the name of our city’s prosperity”.
The intention was to recreate that feeling of release when we leave the city for a while. We all know how it feels to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern city life, and how insignificant all of that suddenly feels when you take a step away. People tend to forget to step away from time to time and lose perspective on their lives and their place in the world.
Shadow puppetry is considered one of the earliest forms of animation- animation that happens in real time. This gives it a special ethereal quality that hovers between the real and the unreal. Because the nature of shadow puppetry is so tactile, we respond to it with different emotion. Throughout the video, everything on screen is made by hand, and all effects are practically made. The aim was that by using such a rarely seen animation technique, it would capture an audience’s eye. The soundscape of the piece, which helps to flesh out the city environment versus that of the natural world, pairs with the visuals to create a beautiful world that instils the viewer with a sense of familiarity and wonder.