Brand guide · duolingo.com
Duolingo
“free. fun. effective.”
Learn a language with quick, bite-sized lessons that make serious learning fun. Research-backed teaching methods, personalized learning, and game-like features help you build a habit and gain real-world communication skills.
Logo
- Taken from the rendered site header (179x42px on a 1440px-wide viewport).
apple-touch-icon
iconColour
Contrast pairings
Typography
Aa
Duolingo Sans
sans-serif · self-hosted · used for display, body, navigation, button
Weights 500 · 700
duolingo-sans, sans-serifAa
Feather
sans-serif · self-hosted · used for heading
Weights 700
feather, sans-serifThe most fun way to learn languages, chess, and more!
free. fun. effective.
Our convenient, fast, and affordable English test integrates the latest assessment science
GET STARTED
GET STARTED
Buttons as rendered
Tone of voice
Duolingo pairs playful encouragement with learning science. It speaks directly to learners, makes progress feel achievable, and explains practical benefits without losing its sense of fun.
Playful with a purpose
Fun is presented as a way to sustain meaningful learning, not as a distraction from it.
Connect playful features or short learning breaks to progress, skills, or habit-building.
Use jokes or game language without explaining the learning benefit.
How it sounds on their site
“serious learning, made fun for all” /business
“Short, varied lessons make it fun to take a learning break” /business
Science made approachable
Research and expertise provide credibility, while explanations remain focused on understandable learner outcomes.
Name the scientific foundation and immediately explain what it helps learners do.
Bury the benefit under academic terminology or imply unsupported results.
How it sounds on their site
“Learning with Duolingo is fun, and research shows that it works!” home
“Combining the best of AI and language science, lessons are tailored to help you learn at just the right level and pace.” home
Progress-positive
The voice encourages steady progress, confidence, and healthy habits rather than pressure or perfection.
Emphasize achievable steps, encouragement, and continued progress.
Shame learners for mistakes or frame learning as a test of personal worth.
How it sounds on their site
“Duolingo focuses on making progress, which builds confidence and healthy habits” /business
“Employees can follow each other and send congrats for making progress” /business
Curious and learner-led
Questions invite learners into a conversation, with experts positioned as helpful guides.
Use real learner questions as headings and address the reader directly.
Talk down to beginners or assume readers already know specialist terms.
How it sounds on their site
“From your nerdiest emails about learning to the science of how your brain works, you've got questions—and Duolingo experts have answers.” home
“11 chess terms every beginner needs to know” home
Tone spectrum
Measured on 828 words
- Sentence length
- 18.8 words
- Reading ease
- 50 · Plain (high-school level)
- Headings
- Sentence case
- “You” vs “we”
- 2.1 vs 1.4 per 100 words
- Exclamations
- 6.8 per 100 sentences
- Contractions
- 1.2 per 100 words
Style rules
- Use sentence-case editorial headings and lowercase promotional headings; avoid title case.
- Keep explanatory sentences near 19 words on average, with short benefit-led headings to break up longer copy.
- Address readers as 'you' and 'your'; use 'we' when explaining how Duolingo supports learning.
- Use questions frequently in advice and FAQs, rather than making every promotional statement a question.
- Use contractions for a conversational feel and reserve exclamation marks for occasional enthusiastic emphasis.
- Keep technical terms tied to plain-language benefits; use numerals for quantities and uppercase for prominent CTA labels.
Words we use
funeffectivelearningprogressbite-sizedpersonalizedlearnersresearchscienceeveryoneget started
Words we avoid
effortless masteryguaranteed fluencypunishmentfailureelite-onlypedagogical optimizationenterprise synergies
Messaging
Fun that builds a learning habit
Bite-sized lessons and playful features help learners keep returning and making progress.
“We make it easy to form a habit of language learning with game-like features, fun challenges, and reminders from our friendly mascot, Duo the owl.” home
“Short, varied lessons make it fun to take a learning break” /business
Effective learning grounded in science
Research-backed methods support practical language skills and proficiency.
“We use a combination of research-backed teaching methods and delightful content to create courses that effectively teach reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills!” home
“Studies show how Duolingo courses compare to university semesters” /business
Learning at your level and pace
Personalized lessons combine AI and language science to support each learner’s progress.
“Combining the best of AI and language science, lessons are tailored to help you learn at just the right level and pace.” home
“Whether learning for fun or professional development, employees learn quickly with our personalized, effective lessons.” /business
Education for everyone
Duolingo aims to make high-quality education universally available, including learning across organizations.
“Develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.” home
“Give everyone in your organization 35+ languages to learn, at a discounted price for you.” /business
Audiences
- Language learners. Fun, effective lessons that fit their level, pace, and daily routine.
- Employers and team administrators. Discounted language learning for employees, with straightforward purchasing and account management.
- English test takers. A convenient, fast, and affordable way to certify English proficiency.
- Curious learners. Expert answers, beginner guidance, and explanations of how learning works.
Proof points
“Courses in 35+ languages teach up to advanced proficiency” /business
“Use our self-service tool to buy up to 1,000 discounted Super Duolingo accounts and get everyone set up.” /business
“The world’s most popular language learning app.” home
“Bring the world’s #1 way to learn a language to your organization, and build a culture of learning for everyone.” /business
Key phrases
free. fun. effective.backed by sciencepersonalized learningbite-sized lessonsmaking progressserious learning, made funlearn anytime, anywhere
Calls to action
GET STARTED
Boilerplate
About Duolingo: Duolingo’s mission is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. Its language learning app combines research-backed teaching methods, delightful content, and personalized lessons to teach reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Duolingo also offers an English proficiency test, Math, Music, Chess, and discounted Super Duolingo accounts for organizations.
How this was built
Every fact above traces to one of these calls. Quotes were checked against the fetched text: 20 kept, 0 dropped as not verbatim. Voice written by gpt-6.1-sol.
| TinyFish | Purpose | Result | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search | Find the company's official homepage Duolingo official website | 10 results | 0.9s |
| Browser | Render the live homepage to measure colours, type and logo https://www.duolingo.com/ | session tf-0fcdc1bf-5819-4459-89cd-710331aedc6d; rendered 6000 elements in 21380ms, 1 bg colours, 3 font files, logo img | 22.3s |
| Fetch | Read homepage copy, links and images for a brand guide https://www.duolingo.com/ | 1/1 pages, 0 chars | 12.2s |
| Search | Find official brand assets and guidelines Duolingo brand guidelines logo colors press kit | 8 results | 1.1s |
| Fetch | Read site pages for tone of voice, messaging and brand rules https://about.duolingo.com, https://www.duolingo.com/business, https://blog.duolingo.com, https://careers.duolingo.com, https://press.duolin… | 1/5 pages, 842 chars, 4 failed | 20.3s |
| Browser | Read pages Fetch could not extract (client-rendered or bot-protected) https://about.duolingo.com, https://www.duolingo.com/business, https://careers.duolingo.com | session tf-99c151cf-1639-4961-8041-a483b2faeb48; 2/3 pages read | 21.3s |
Pages read
- homeBrowserhttps://www.duolingo.com/
- blogFetchhttps://blog.duolingo.com
- aboutBrowserhttps://about.duolingo.com
- productBrowserhttps://www.duolingo.com/business
- The homepage could not be read by Fetch, so its copy was taken from the rendered page.
- Could not read https://careers.duolingo.com with Fetch or the browser.
- Could not read https://press.duolingo.com with Fetch or the browser.