Today we speak with Greg Hartman, Head of Art, Zaria Parvez, Social Media Manager, and Sam Dalsimer, Global Head of Communications, at Duolingo to discover the world of Duo.

The story of their brand mascot, Duo, is less well-known than its app. With more than 500 million total downloads worldwide, people can learn from 103 total language courses for 40 distinct languages just by using Duolingo. Today, Duolingo is on a mission to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available for all. As Duolingo quickly became the most popular way to learn a language online, the brand had to figure out if their mascot was universal enough for a global brand. Oh yes, and then there was the challenge in overcoming some negative folklore and superstitions associated with owls. That’s a bit of an inside joke between the company’s co-founders Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker. It was described as… creepy.ĭuo wasn’t supposed to be green either. When he finally did receive an expression, it wasn’t cute. He didn’t have an expression on his face. Duo, the cheerful owl mascot for the language-learning website and app Duolingo, has an unusual origin story than most brand mascots.

The duolingo owl