Playbooks
An App That Tracks Parent and Child Stroke Practice
Want one app that tracks both your child's and your own Chinese stroke practice? Shared progress turns practice into a habit you keep together. Here is how.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Playbooks
An Apple Watch App to Trace a Quick Character?
An Apple Watch nudge to trace a character sounds handy, but the screen is tiny. Here is what a watch is good for in Chinese practice and what it is not.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
A Pastel, Customizable Hanzi Stroke-Tracing App
A calm pastel theme can make Hanzi practice a habit you actually keep. Here is why aesthetics help, what to look for, and where the real learning happens.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
A CLI That Gives You a Random Hanzi to Trace Daily
A daily-character CLI is a fun, easy build and a fine habit nudge, but a terminal can show a character, not grade your writing. Recognition is not recall. Here is the honest split.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
A Trace-to-Unlock Daily Hanzi Lock Screen: Good Idea?
A lock screen that makes you trace a daily character before unlocking is a clever habit nudge, but tracing to unlock is recognition, and it gets gamed. A from-memory prompt works better.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
A Lo-Fi Focus Room for Daily Character Drawing
A calm, lo-fi study atmosphere can make daily character drawing a habit you keep. Here is how the aesthetic helps, and why the writing must still be from memory.
Lawrence Arya··4 min
Essays
Drawing a Hanzi From the Dynamic Island?
A Dynamic Island prompt to draw a character sounds slick, but the integration is the easy part. Here is what would actually make a daily writing nudge work.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Playbooks
Fixing Character Amnesia One-Handed in a Queue
Only one hand free, waiting in a queue? Micro-sessions of from-memory writing on your phone can fix character amnesia in the gaps of your day. Here is how.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
One-Handed Hanzi Practice for Waiting Rooms and Commutes
Dead time in a waiting room is ideal for writing practice, if the app works one-handed. Accessible, thumb-friendly interaction turns short, awkward moments into real recall reps.
Lawrence Arya··4 min
Playbooks
An iOS Lock-Screen Widget for a Daily HSK Character?
A lock-screen widget showing a daily HSK character is a great habit cue, but tracing it on a tiny widget is recognition, not recall. Use the widget as a prompt and produce from memory in the app.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Playbooks
An iOS Widget for One Random Hanzi a Day?
Want an iOS homescreen widget that shows one random Hanzi to draw each day? It is a great habit nudge, and a daily character fits how memory works. Here is the idea.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
Is Writing Characters on a Tray Table a Sickness? No
Caught yourself drilling characters on a tray table and wondering if it is unhealthy? It is a normal, healthy habit. Here is a reassuring, honest take.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
An AR Floating Daily-Hanzi Widget: Does It Build Recall?
An AR widget that anchors a daily character to your wall is a lovely reminder, but seeing and tracing it is recognition. Recall comes from producing the character from memory.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
Tracing Characters to Stay Calm on a Long Flight
Writing characters by hand is a quietly absorbing, fully offline activity, which makes it a good anchor for flight nerves, and you build real recall while you settle.
Lawrence Arya··5 min