Product Update: Improved Image Reviews

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Recollective is an activity-based platform for engaging participants in qualitative research. Each activity can be comprised of various tasks to collect a complete and varied set of responses. One of our more popular task types allows any image to be rated and reviewed. In our latest release, we've greatly updated this Image Review task type.

Qualitative research often includes a visual stimulus such as advertising drafts, product renderings, packaging concepts, and more. We've also seen image reviews exploited creatively, such as depicting emotional reactions and asking participants to select how they feel.

Overall, the demand for the Image Review task type has been high - and its usage has been diverse. We therefore wanted to make it more flexible in its setup and analysis.

Better and Unlimited Markers

One of the key improvements in the updated Image Review task type is the configuration of the markers. Markers are the labeled icons made available for participants to place directly onto the image they're reviewing.

The previous version of the task type was limited to three distinct markers while this update has made marker setup unlimited.

Moreover, the marker icons available have been greatly updated. A limited set of simple icons were available previously but now you can choose from any of the thousands of emoji icons. This change ensures the Image Review task type matches the look and feel of our new Video Review task type.

For each marker configured, there is also now more control. You can customize the prompt question asked after the marker is placed and you can enforce word limits that are specific to the marker.

There is still the ability to enforce total marker limits and request an overall rating before the detailed review takes place.

Automatic Conversion

Recollective studies offer time saving copy-and-paste functions. They are provided at the task, activity and study-level. A duplicated Image Review will will automatically be "upgraded" to the new version. You can then edit its setup to add more markers, define new prompt questions or just change the marker icons.

Improved Task Completion

During task completion, participants benefit from an improved marker selection menu. It clearly indicates how many of each marker must be used (if any minimums are set) and it disables those that have already reached their maximum.

For images that must be reviewed in detail, the ability to zoom smoothly is an important factor. In addition to a Zoom toggle switch, it's clearly indicated that participants can double-click (or double-tab) to zoom in smoothly. Once zoomed in, participants can simply drag the image left and right to view it completely.

Customizable Summary

Once responses have been received, we felt it was important to offer a rich visual summary that could be customized with ease. Recollective now offers an improved summary by including a heatmap visualization that highlights areas with markers. The heatmap can be shown on its own or in combination with markers.

A new "Customize" toggle switch appears with four sliders:

  • Image Opacity: Reducing the image opacity allows markers and the heatmap to be more easily seen
  • Marker Size: Each marker occupies space over the image. When there are few markers on a large image, you will want to increase the marker size. If there are many markers or its a small image, you may want to reduce the marker size. Markers can be hidden entirely with this slider.
  • Heatmap Size: Each marker creates like a spot that glows in the heatmap layer. This slider controls how much glow and blending there is among nearby markers. The heatmap can be hidden entirely with this slider.
  • Heatmap Sensitivity: When markers are clustered together, they can produce a red hotspot in the heatmap. This slider allows you to control the threshold for the appearance of those hotspots based on quantity of markers in a given area.

Play the video below to see these new controls in action:

  • By segment
  • By selected panelists
  • By image region
  • By marker
  • By markers that have annotations

Below the main visualization you will find a Marker Frequency chart and its data. It appears as a pie chart but it can be switched to a horizontal or vertical bar chart.

The final set of data tables represent a summary of each response followed by the raw data for each marker that's been placed on the image. As usual, all visualizations and data tables can be easily exported from Recollective.

Conclusion

Overall, we think these changes represent a major upgrade for our customers conducting concept tests and other forms of Image Reviews. We look forward to seeing even more creative applications of Recollective.

Philippe Dame
Co-Founder & CPO

Let's research happy together