I’d like to reassure you that your feedback was communicated to the Design team and we recognise your concerns. Changes are being considered, however, we’re unable to act as swiftly as you would like as there are a number of considerations the team need to take into account.
UX Researcher at Memrise
I’m glad to finally hear from someone that changes are being considered. For the most part, it seems that Memrise’s response to user concerns about the new layout has been to ignore and dismiss them. If users were complaining about the harsh colors in beta, it should not have been pushed through. Or at least, users should have been given palette options in the final design.
I do not like the new scheme. It also hurts my eyes and it is very confusing to what is what. I used the app heavily and do not regret it for what I’ve learned. In this screen shot you will see lightning bolts, plants, space ships and hands dropping what look like seeds. There is also a feather? Why? And the general astetic of cut paper serves only to cause me to not focus on anything. Very disorienting. Please listen to the people who will be using the app. The reason I dropped money on this app $100 (most I’ve spent on an app) in the first place was because I truly loved the space theme. It gave me a goal, to get my spaceship into space and evolve my alien. I don’t want that back per-say but something that gives me a purpose beyond earning points and looking like a complete jumbled mess. I’ve been using duolingo because it sticks to a theme doesn’t hurt my eyes and spirit and is free.
@Masha_Ignatova48 just wondering if you could give us any update on progress? Nothing has improved in the new design and it’s still awful to use unless you use a stylish skin to get rid of the worst of it or install older versions of the mobile app. Can you give us any info on what changes are under consideration and how long it might take to see some of the concerns posted here and elsewhere addressed? I’d really like to be able to use the current mobile app but there’s no point trying as it stands.
Yes, please give us an update. This app is unusable for me, and I have a pro subscription. I’ve paid $100 for two weeks of use!
The team asked for patience, I gave it. But this is getting ridiculous.
Apologies to keep you waiting for so long, the project took us longer than expected. We’re planning to release in June several changes, including a new improved tapping and typing test types which will be in a different colour scheme. I’ll keep you posted once it’s available to download.
I am not seeing the Dark Mode that was promised to several users…
Dark Mode is also on our roadmap, but we’re planning to release it later this year.
If only Memrise would understand the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
I joined Memrise back in 2011. Back then, the theme of the site was of planting seeds and then plants growing as memories formed. It was simple, clear, and effective. Since then, things have changed again and again, and rarely for the better.
Not only that, but in the Chinese courses, a LOAD of the original and creative mems (many created by Ben Whatley) have just been removed with no explanation. Why is this?? The Mems that are left are of very little help at all and many of them don’t even relate to the learning content.
Those Chinese courses used to be soooooo good in helping me learn Chinese. These days they’re no more use than flashcards.
What has happened to this site?!
Thank you for the update Masha. Are you able to tell us if the predominant yellow, which has been identified by many commenters as a big problem, will be adjusted?
So those of us with a subscription, who can’t use the app after the color changes, are just out a half a year of use?
I’m sorry, but that’s just incredibly unfair. I realize you’re just the messenger and I’m not trying to be a jerk. But that subscription was a lot of money. I was upset about the months I lost, but to find out I will lose half a year at least?
I’m sad. I trusted you guys when you said you were working on it as fast as possible, now I can’t even get a refund.
Yes, we’re going to change it in test types where you use keyboard or form sentences. We’re still going to use it for some elements which don’t require focus and it shouldn’t be distracting. Once again apologies for such a long wait, there were a number of factors which prevented us from changing it earlier.
Thanks Masha. I’ll keep an eye out for the updates you mention and I appreciate them. Hopefully they’ll make the site usable again when I’m not on a browser that can use the stylish extensions. Unfortunately it sounds like some of the biggest problems won’t be addressed, at least for a long time. I understand when something is broken so thoroughly it takes time to remediate it.
Are you able to say if the searing yellow splash screen when the android app is launched is going away in the update? It serves no purpose and I had to actually turn my phone away until it was over until I learned how to roll back the app. If not, I’ll just keep using the old version of the app for the foreseeable future.
I’ve been using memrise since 2010 and it has been a huge help for my Japanese studies, specially kanji. Though I’m grateful to the memrise team for their app, I also have to agree with the rest of the members who think the yellow color is too aggressive and hurts my vision if I use it for a long period of time. I really liked the first design of the plants, I was ok/sort of disliked the planet themed that came afterward but it was better than the current design, which I can hardly bear to use.
I work in the IT industry as a QA so I understand that a design change requires a lot of time, but I hope you take into account all the feedback provided on this thread and make a user-friendly design. Thanks 
The use of aposematic colors (yellow e other gaudy colors) may explain why this app now looks so off putting. Aposematic colors sign danger.
To feel distressed and in danger make you alert and focus more at the task in hand.
But just for a while, in other words, until the moment you feel so distressed [by anxiety or eye straining] you can not concentrate anymore.
MemRise said that their decision is backed by extensive research and from hearing a few selected users… Research can yield false positive results: be oblivious to that fact is the most unscientific attitude one can adopt.
Users feedback appear to show that this new design is not working. Is it contradicting their initial ‘extensive’ research? I don’t know. But MemRise should know that.
Keep in mind that they say that about everything they do, but I don’t believe it for a minute.
Remember that they said the same thing when they introduced Ziggy, the mastererful, mesmerizing, motivating, and explicitly non-binary space jellyfish. It was supposedly the product of extensive user testing and interviews, blah blah blah…
Luke Murphy even came here on the forums and promised that he would write and publish a research paper detailing the extensive scientific research behind the design. Of course, after overwhelming user rejection of Ziggy, they unceremoniously removed him from the site, and the research paper was never seen or mentioned again.
It’s just the way they do things around here…
Personally I wish they would work more on language learning features and tools.
Some things I would like to see changed:
Minimize the usage of blue. (One version had an overabundance of blue, right around when my optometrist told me I should minimize blue on my screens (I use f.lux on PC and Twilight on my phone and have bluelight reduction enabled, etc but you can only reduce the blue so much before it becomes hard to see things on the screen, and I’m not going to change my settings to something even more crazy for one thing when everything else is fine.)
Besides blue being a problem, as some people mentioned above, things that are too -bright- are a problem. (For this as well, the unfortunate thing with using a red filter app like I do while viewing a page that involves yellow with some fonts being grey, is it gets harder and harder to see.)
Also noting that in the official Mandarin courses alot of the time one voice is way louder than the other (usually the woman is way louder than the man), so I’m constantly having to readjust the volume and either getting blasted by one or unable to hear the other… they need to be set to the same decibel level.
Can you read the Arabic script here?
Seriously? “Extensive research”? Are you f…ng kidding me? What IQ do you have? 10? And I mean collectively.
