The EyeTracking Blog

There's a lot to like about EyeWorks™. Its unique brand of flexible efficacy makes it an ideal software solution for eye tracking professionals in a variety of academic, applied and marketing fields. To put it simply, EyeWorks™ IS the collective expertise of EyeTracking, Inc., refined and packaged for researchers everywhere. In the coming months we will highlight a few unique features of EyeWorks™ in the EyeTracking Blog.

Dynamic Region Analysis (Patent Pending)

All good science must quantify results. Eye tracking research is no exception, be it academic, applied, marketing or any other discipline. Unless you have an objective way to evaluate the precise activity of the eye, there is little value in collecting such data. Thus, most eye tracking software offers the ability to draw regions (or AOIs, if you like) as a way to quantify the number and timing of data points...

Package design is the most challenging form of advertising. It lacks the storyline of a commercial, the vastness of a billboard, the dynamics of an online ad. The package is forced to deliver its message non-verbally with static content on minimal space while sharing the spotlight with every competitor in the category. From a marketing perspective, this isn't an ideal situation, especially if you consider the fact that the package offers a unique chance to speak directly to consumers at the very moment that they make their purchase decision. It's a golden opportunity, and yet a cluttered environment and mediocre medium make it difficult to take advantage. The struggle to STAND OUT on the shelf is the primary reason that eye tracking research on CPG has flourished in recent years. Retailers realize that understanding visibility is the key to gauging the effectiveness of a given package...

For better or worse, as citizens of the modern world we are inundated with information everywhere we go. At home, at work, in the car, plane or subway, it's often difficult to disconnect because the news of the day is always at our fingertips and the billboard is ever-present within our field of view. Simply put, it's a lot to take in. How on earth do we keep it all straight? How do we maintain order with all of this information piling up? Well, the trick is not to let it all pile up. Basically, just ignore that which is not relevant. The 21st century brain makes use of a sophisticated data filter to accomplish this task. It allows us to focus despite all the noise, to live our lives without being completely overwhelmed by the obligation to process every single sight and sound that we encounter. We'd go crazy with data overload if not for this handy adaptation. On the other hand, it does tend to make life...

If you perform a Google image search for 'eye tracking,' your results will consist primarily of heat maps - heat maps of webpages, heat maps of advertisements, heat maps of grocery store shelves, heat maps, heat maps and more heat maps. They are the most recognizable eye tracking analysis tool. They are the most commonly requested eye tracking deliverable. At this point, it isn't too much of a stretch to say that the heat map has become the logo for the eye tracking industry as a whole.

However, this post will not be another puff piece about the unmitigated value of this oft-used data rendering. EyeTracking, Inc. will toot its own horn just this once to say that we were the originators of the heat map (or GazeSpot as we call it) back in the 1990s, and then we will proceed to a more objective discussion. What we'd like to talk about today is the manner in which these graphics are misused and misinterpreted....