Next Billion Users — Login vs Log In
Login OR Log In?
Which one to use?
Sounds like a silly topic to fuss over?
To you, both makes sense?
To be honest, such stuffs, associated with copies was kind of non-issue to me for a very long time.
But perspective changed when I started designing for Indian Next Billion Users.
In India, the comfort level of NBU users with English is low. But preference for using the app in English is high even if the app is available in the local languages.
Thus, we decided to rework our content strategy with respect to the English language. To uncover insights, conducted a co-creation exercise to learn about the user’s information processing approach. And one of the most fascinating insight was
High comfort level with a vocab in spoken form doesn’t imply the similar comfort level in written form
Alike sugar and milk, some English vocabs have dissolved nicely with local lingo in India. Sharing examples of two such vocab below
Example 01
In India, it’s common to use the word ‘Future’ while speaking in the local language.
In the co-creation exercise, users struggled with the word ‘Future’. They slowed down, fumbled, and pronounced it as Foo-Terr.
On asking, “Are you familiar with the word Fyoo-Cher”.
Reply was a confident ‘Yes!’.
Example 02
Another critical learning came from the word ‘Owner’.
They understood ‘owner’ but not ‘own’. Their familiarity with ‘Owner’ is a result of its frequent usage while dealing in properties(buy, sell, rent). Its usage is high in verbal conversation as well as written(property agreement/contract). But the usage of the word ‘own’ is uncommon. Therefore user struggled to read, pronounced, and comprehend.
Given the above instances, there’s a high probability that the user will pronounce Login as ‘Lo-Jin’.
But, the probability of calling Log In as ‘Log-In’ is high. Reason being that the word ‘Log’ exists in one of the widely spoken and understood Indian languages i.e Hindi. It is pronounced as ‘Log’ and not ‘Loj’.
That said, I want to call out ‘Log In’ will help with correct pronunciation and not comprehension. The reason being, in Hindi, Log means people.
Now coming to the comprehensibility part, it’s a non-issue.
Because most of the NBU’s smartphone journey is kicked-off in person by family members or relatives. And during those moments, their learnability happens.
As they listen and learn, the mind performs a mind-mapping activity subconsciously. It maps spoken vocab with the vocab on screen.
Connecting the dots would feel easier with Log In rather than Login.
Bottom Line
Whether the user is learning the app in-person or following an instruction over the call, the word ‘Log In’ would do a better job at facilitating mind-mapping activity efficiently.
