Flamingo

Quite a while ago me and Johnny started a project called Flamingo, a very simple vocabulary memorizer, our apps usually have 50 to 100 words, we try to pick the most used words and phrases in each language.

The idea is simple: behind the scenes there is a roster of 10 words from which they are picked randomly, the better you know a word it's less likely to show up, that way words that you have trouble with are more likely to show up, once you answered correctly enough times the word is removed from the roster and the next one comes in.

Technical Stuff

Flamingo went through quite a lot of mutations, starting with Java for Android Native, then to VueJS with Cordova to eventually Svelte which is by far my favorite JavaScript framework to date.

We also automated pretty much anything we could, since all the applications are more or less the same we were able to automate 99% of the process of publishing a new language, besides the actual content (words and phrases) everything else was automated, including:

• Icons and store graphics using ImageMagick.
• Words and phrases audio using SoundOfText.
• Store publishing and assets uploading using FastLane.

Our setup had a single git repo for the sources and scripts, and a Google Drive folder for app specific assets (word database, graphics, build files, etc...)

Our Google Drive folder

In order to make a new app we used a grunt script that would do the following:

• Use SoundOfText to scrape audio files.
• Generate graphics - icons,store graphics and screenshots.
• Copy relevant files from our Google Drive folder into the workspace.
• Configure some variables in the code (app name, adsense ids, etc...)
• Build app and run some tests.

At this point if everything looked fine we would run another script that would upload and publish the app in the store and voila! we have published a new app!

Marketing

The first app we made was for French, we didn't really have a marketing strategy, we just knew that we don't want to spend any money so we had to be creative.

As you probably guessed there are many apps for learning languages and specifically a lot for learning French, our app was a drop in the ocean.

At the time the hit HBO series Game Of Thrones was running and everyone was obsessed with it, myself included, within the GOT universe there are two constructed languages used: Dothraki and Valyrian - we have found our marketing startegy.

Our first try was with Dothraki which proved itself quite quickly, we were able to use Hashtags related to our app that were already in circulation in different medias, we soon followed with Valyrian and later we also added Klingon and Elvish, we have found that the geeks community was a passionate one and to this day these are our most popular apps.

Dothraki, Valyrian, Elvish and Klingon, can you guess which is which?

Conclusion

Flamingo was a fun and interesting project, we knew we can bring more while doing less, to this day i think the Flamingo system is better for learning and more fun, unlike Duolingo we bring a much more rapid way of learning. Duolingo have also later released their version of Dothraki and Valyrian (coincidence? i don't think so :).

In our latest apps we have gone beyond learning languages to general memorization, we released versions for SAT, Silbo Gomero and Flags of the world which are all very fun and useful.

Our apps on Google Play

And in the AppsStore.

Cya in the next project!