KAKKOII
Online media for learning Japanese that combines educational articles with interactive practice — from anime and manga culture and slang to a design system, a guide character, and responsive screens for web, tablet and mobile.
View original case study →Project context
KAKKOII is a diploma project in the "UX/UI and frontend development" track at the HSE School of Design (Nizhny Novgorod). The idea: connect the textbook to living Japanese speech — slang, memes and cultural references that rarely make it into classic grammar lessons.
The product wasn't meant to be just another course with lessons, but media: short articles based on real posts, anime and manga, each paired with practice that immediately checks understanding.
Existing sites offer an outdated format
Individual textbooks and language apps rarely engage with living speech or current cultural context. The gap between dry grammar and how the language actually sounds in anime, manga and social media remained unaddressed.
Pair articles with interactive practice
Build online media for learning Japanese grounded in pop culture, combining articles with interactive practice: reading, listening, grammar, and a comprehension check after every piece.
Articles + platform sections
- 01
Materials
Short articles based on real posts, anime and manga — breaking down vocabulary, grammar and cultural context line by line.
- 02
Kanji
A dedicated trainer for memorizing characters through frequency and context, rather than rote isolated drilling.
- 03
Daily task
Daily practice — a short exercise that checks what's been learned and pulls users back to the site.
- 04
Comprehension check
After every article — a multiple-choice question on what was read or heard, to lock the material in right away.
かっこいい — "kakkoii"
The name literally translates from Japanese as "cool, stylish" — the feeling that should stick after reading an article or finishing an exercise.
Meet Kai.. he's cool
A virtual senpai, Kai, is always there with advice and encouragement. Under the mask of a cool guy hides a soft heart: ice on the outside, a cinnamon roll on the inside. "Yeah, I look cool. But my mission is to make you cool too."
What it looks like
"Yeah, I look cool. But my mission is to make you cool too."— Kai, KAKKOII's mascot
What we achieved
We ended up with online media with a living article feed, a kanji trainer and daily tasks — instead of yet another course with lessons, a site people actually want to read. The project is live at kakkoii.vercel.app.