User onboarding
Duolingo’s empty state is encouraging
When Duolingo's Feed is unavailable, its empty state shows a sleeping Duo and suggests trying a lesson while you wait.
Duolingo turns an outage into a small nudge with an empty state. At the time of the screenshot, opening the Feed tab when it isn't available shows Duo, the green owl mascot, flat out asleep with a "Zz" above him. The headline reads "The Feed is currently unavailable!" and the line below says "Check back again later. Try a lesson while you wait!". The tab bar stays in place, so a lesson is one tap away.
Why it works
- A mascot instead of an error: a sleeping Duo says "nothing here right now" in a way that's easier to forgive than an error code, and it fits the character people already know from the app.
- Somewhere to go next: the copy points you back to the thing Duolingo most wants you to do, a lesson, so a dead end becomes a reason to keep learning instead of closing the app.
More on this pattern: empty states in progressive onboarding and onboarding UX writing.
