Rosetta Stone ReFLEX

Smackerel recently finished a big project for Rosetta Stone, that we've been working on steadily for nearly 2 years. The product is called Rosetta Stone ReFLEX, and its currently available only in Japan and Korea, so we'd like to share a few screens with you here. Rosetta Stone ReFLEX is a new language learning product, made for developing advanced conversational English skills.

We started working on ReFLEX back in August of 2010, when we met with ‘Labs’, Rosetta Stone’s internal R&D team, to learn about some rough ideas they had for a new product. The product would be for learners who have some English, but lack the confidence and spontaneity to speak it in the real world.

The Labs team aimed to build the learners' confidence by exposing them, repeatedly, to conversation scenarios. In each training session, the learner rehearses a conversation with the computer, then s/he performs a similar scenario with a live language coach.

From earliest stages, we visualized ideas with the Labs team, gradually turning their pedagogical philosophy into a design language.

As we continued to refine the product, the interface began to disappear. We realized that, at certain points in the product, graphic interface is unnecessary. Below, the learner experiences a completely voice-driven interface; the conversation progresses as they speak.

Later, when Labs turned the product over to Rosetta Stone’s internal development team, we stayed with the project, smoothing the transition from exploration to development. The emphasis was now on developing a viable prototype, to test to core pedagogical ideas, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the product. The alpha went live in September 2011, and for the next 10 months the roadmap has been informed by user feedback. One notable addition was the ‘report card’ features, allowing users to track their progress, and identify areas to work on.