Bilingual onboarding isn't about translation — it's about alignment.
English used abstract marketing promises. Arabic shifted to system-heavy jargon. Neither told users what to do. We unified both around clear, task-led mental models — from the first screen.
To focus the case study on content and experience design, we recreated selected onboarding screens using Luice.gov as a stand-in for the original app. Visuals and naming have been adapted for demonstration purposes only. All examples reflect real product patterns, copy, and bilingual challenges observed in the original experience.
This case study demonstrates how bilingual onboarding fails when language is treated as content — and how it succeeds when treated as experience design.
Language choice appeared only once, on first install, with no option to change it later. Language was treated as a fixed setting, not an ongoing experience choice. This created friction for multilingual households and weakened inclusivity in a public-service product.
Language buried below brand elements. Logo competed with function. One-time choice with no way to switch later.
Language toggle made persistent and accessible from every screen. Positioned as a utility, not a one-time gate.
The English onboarding led with aspirational marketing copy — "Your gateway to seamless services." The Arabic version shifted to dense, system-level language — technical terms, formal register, no warmth. Users in each language were getting fundamentally different mental models of what the app does.
English: abstract marketing promises. Arabic: system-heavy jargon. Neither told users what they could actually do.
Both languages unified around task-led messaging: what can I do here, and what's my first step? Same mental model, adapted tone.
Before users could access any content, they were asked to select from categories that didn't map to real tasks — "Individual," "Business," "Visitor." For most users, these labels didn't correspond to how they think about their needs. The result: confusion, drop-off, and misrouted experiences.
The redesign removed premature categorization entirely. Instead, we let users browse all services first and self-select naturally through search and task-based entry points.
Complete bilingual onboarding flow — landing, language selection, value proposition, and first-action screens.
Unified bilingual messaging framework with task-led mental models.
All screen copy rewritten in both English and Arabic — native, not translated.
Persistent language access, no false choices, accurate expectations from the first screen.
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