As China's economy sky rockets, for Westerners, being able to speak the language, is becoming increasingly essential. However, being so different from Western alphabets, getting your head around the symbols can be a daunting task.

This is where Chineasy comes in. A new system developed by London based, Chinese entrepreneur ShaoLan, aims to bridge the gap by offering a revolutionary new way to learn Chinese. With over 20,000 characters, the Chinese alphabet can take a while to get to grips with, however Chineasy assigns relevant images and pictures to the symbols to help make them more memorable.

With a smart approach that breaks the language down into building blocks and explains how to assemble them into phrases and sentences, the program is a refreshing way of using smart design to solve a problem.

It's currently looking for funding on Kickstarter, so if this sounds like something you'd find useful, throw a few pennies ShaoLan's way here.