News Items - International Association of Packaging Research Institutes
| UDEM, Mexico, explores eye-tracking techniques At the University of Monterrey (UDEM), Mexico, the ABRE centre for packaging design and innovation has been working with eye-tracking technology, and demonstrating how it can support brand-owners in their design decisions. ABRE project manager Aleisa Martinez explains some of the research activity carried out over recent months. “Up to now, we’ve run a few projects with different objectives, in which we’ve identified the product that stands out on the supermarket shelves, found the most looked-at graphic elements in the packaging, and [determined] how consumers make their purchasing decisions,” she says.  She describes one project where industrial design students were invited to interact with eye-tracker glasses in the carbonated soft drinks – or soda – aisle. “We asked them to walk through the soda section and look at all the products,” she says. “After assessing the data we collected, we made one intervention in the branding on one soda can.”Another case study involved product concepts generated in class, with renders that the students had created. “A sample of 50 consumers was gathered,” says Martinez. “They evaluated the product concepts in terms of which would be their preference, and would generate a purchase, if they found it in a supermarket.”  Eye-tracking technology can detect the wearer’s eye movements with the help of special sensors in the tracker glasses, which register precisely where the person is looking. Software collects this data and allows it to be accessed in different ways, including via ‘heat maps’ showing how often particular packs and details are returned to.“This technology can be used to better understand consumer preferences and, overall, to explore the characteristics of your product in a deeper way,” says Martinez. “As a tool, it can be key to the design phase of the product – and to taking better decisions.” Published: 05/25/22 |