Reframer is a qualitative research tool that was built to help teams capture and make sense of their research findings quickly and easily. For those of you who have been a long-standing Optimal Workshop customer, you may know that Reframer has been in beta for some time. In fact, it has been in beta for 2 whole years. Truth was that, while we’ve cheerfully responded to your feedback with a number of cool features and improvements, we had some grand plans up our sleeve. So, we took everything we learned and went back to drawing board with the goal to provide the best dang experience we can.We’ll soon be ready to launch Reframer out of beta and let it take its place proudly as a full time member of our suite of user research tools. However, in the spirit of continuous improvement, we want to give you all a chance to use it and give us feedback on the new experience so far.

First-time Reframer user?

Awesome! You’ll get to experience the newer version of Reframer with a fresh set of eyes. To enable Reframer, log in to your Optimal Workshop account. On your dashboard you’ll see a button to join the Reframer beta on your screen at right.

Used Reframer before?

Any new studies you create will automatically use the slick new version. Not quite ready to learn the new awesome? No worries you can toggle back and forth between the old version and the new in the top right corner of your screen.To learn about Reframer’s new look and features, watch the video or read the transcript below to hear more about these changes and why we made them.

When is Reframer actually coming out of beta?

This year. Stay tuned.

Video transcript:

We’re this close to having our qualitative research tool, Reframer, all set to release from beta.But we just couldn’t wait to share some of the changes we’ve got lined up. So, we’ve gone ahead and launched a fresh version of Reframer to give you a taste of what’s to come.These latest updates include a more streamlined workflow and a cleaner user interface, as well as laying the foundations for some exciting features in the coming months.So let’s take a look at the revamped Reframer.We’ve updated the study screen to help you get started and keep track of where your research is at.

• You now have an area for study objectives to keep your team on the same page

• And an area for reference links, to give you quick access to prototypes and other relevant documents

• Session information is now shown here too, so you can get an overview of all your participants at a glance

• And we’ve created a home for your tags with more guidance around how to use them, like example tags and groups to help you get started.

What’s the most important thing when observing a research session? Collecting insights of course! So we’ve simplified the capture experience to let you focus on taking great notes.

• You can choose to reveal your tags, so they’re at the ready, or hide them so you can save your tagging till later

• We’ve created a whole range of keyboard shortcuts to speed up adding and formatting observations

• The import experience is now more streamlined, so it’s easier to bring observations from other sources into Reframer

• And, with some huge improvements behind the scenes, Reframer is even faster, giving you a more seamless note taking experience.

Now for something totally new — introducing review mode. Here you can see your own observations, as well as those made by anyone else in your team. This makes it easy to tidy up and edit your data after your session is complete. You can filter, search and tag observations, so you’ll be ready to make sense of everything when you move to analysis.We’ve added more guidance throughout Reframer, so you’ll have the confidence you’re on the right track. New users will be up and running in no time with improved help and easy access to resources.You might notice a few changes to our UI as well, but it’s not just about looks.

• We’ve changed the font to make it easier to read on any screen size

• Our updated button colours to provide better contrast and hierarchy

• And we’ve switched our icons from fonts to images to make them more accessible to more users.

And that’s where we’re at.We've got a lot more exciting features to come, so why not jump in, give the new Reframer a try and tell us what you think!Send us your feedback and ideas at research@optimalworkshop.com and keep an eye out for more changes coming soon. Catch you later!

We’ve been working hard over the last few weeks on some nifty little changes to the way you can use, create and manage tags in Reframer. Today, we’re happy to announce that all these changes are now live. Yay!Now, you can group your tags and add custom colors. Learn a little bit about how these new features work and how you can use them below.

More flexibility with your tags

We made these changes so that the notetaking and analysis stages of your research projects are simpler. Previously, Reframer tags would all be the same shade of blue and organized alphabetically — not always the easiest way to find the tags you’re looking for. Now you can add as many tag groups as you like to your Reframer sessions to make managing and finding your tags much quicker and more effortless. Even better, you can also apply colors to these groups. Pick from our selected palette of colors, or choose a custom one through the hex color code chart. Grouping your tags gives you the freedom to organize your research observations in the way that makes sense to your project. Here are some of the many ways you can group and color your research observations.

• Based on sentiment (happy, sad, angry, confused etc.)
• Based on products
• Based on tasks — for example, testing a certain section or feature of a website
• Based on devices used
• Based on defining personas
• Based on period of time/time of day

These new tag features give you a lot of flexibility — each group doesn’t have to contain only one color. You can add multiple colors within one group (for example, within a ‘sentiment’ group you could select red for ‘angry’, green for ‘happy’ etc).For a bit more guidance on how to write effective research observations in Reframer, check out this article we wrote for UX Mastery.We hope you like these new tag features for Reframer. As always, if you have any feedback please let us know on support@optimalworkshop.comAlternatively, comment below with some of the ways you’ve used these new features in your research.

AI creates beautiful designs, but only humans can validate if they work

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Let's talk about something that's fundamentally reshaping product development: AI-generated designs. It's not just a trendy tool; it's a complete transformation of the design workflow as we know it.

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Today's AI design tools aren't just creating mockups, they're generating entire design systems, producing variations at scale, and predicting user preferences before you've even finished your prompt. Instead of spending hours on iterations, designers are exploring dozens of directions in minutes.

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This is where platforms like Lovable shine with their vibe coding approach, generating design directions based on emotional and aesthetic inputs rather than just functional requirements, and while this AI-powered innovation is impressive, it raises a critical question for everyone creating digital products: How do we ensure these AI-generated designs actually resonate with real people?

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The Gap Between AI Efficiency and Human Connection

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The design process has fundamentally shifted. Instead of building from scratch, designers are prompting and curating. Rather than crafting each pixel, they're directing AI to explore design spaces.

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The whole interaction feels more experimental. Designers are using natural language to describe desired outcomes, and the AI responses feel like collaborative explorations rather than final deliverables.

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This shift has major implications for product teams:

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• If you're a product manager, you need to balance AI efficiency with proven user validation methods to ensure designs solve actual user problems.
• UX designers, you're now curating and refining AI outputs. When AI generates interfaces, will real users understand how to use them?
• Visual designers, your expertise is evolving. You need to develop prompting skills while maintaining your critical eye for what actually works.
• And UX researchers, there's an urgent need to validate AI-generated designs with real human feedback before implementation.

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The Future of Design: AI Innovation + Human Validation

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As AI design tools become more powerful, the teams that thrive will be those who balance technological innovation with human understanding. The winning approach isn't AI alone or human-only design, it's the thoughtful integration of both.

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Why Human Validation Is Essential for AI-Generated Designs

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AI is revolutionizing design creation, but it has inherent limitations that only human validation can address:

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• ‍AI Lacks Contextual Understanding While AI can generate visually impressive designs, it doesn't truly understand cultural nuances, emotional responses, or lived experiences of your users. Only human feedback can verify whether an AI-generated interface feels intuitive rather than just looking good.‍
• The "Uncanny Valley" of AI Design AI-generated designs sometimes create an "almost right but slightly off" feeling, technically correct but missing the human touch. Real user testing helps identify these subtle disconnects that might otherwise go unnoticed by design teams.‍
• AI Reinforces Patterns, Not Breakthroughs AI models are trained on existing design patterns, meaning they excel at iteration but struggle with true innovation. Human validation helps identify when AI-generated designs feel derivative versus when they create genuine emotional connections with users.‍
• Diverse User Needs Require Human Insight AI may not account for accessibility considerations, cultural sensitivities, or edge cases without explicit prompting. Human validation ensures designs work for your entire audience, not just the statistical average.

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The Multiplier Effect: Why AI + Human Validation Outperforms Either Approach Alone

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The combination of AI-powered design and human validation creates a virtuous cycle that elevates both:

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• From Rapid Iteration to Deeper Insights AI allows teams to test more design variations than ever before, gathering richer comparative data through human testing. This breadth of exploration was previously impossible with human-only design processes.‍
• Continuous Learning Loop Human validation of AI designs creates feedback that improves future AI prompts. Over time, this creates a compounding advantage where AI tools become increasingly aligned with real user preferences.‍
• Scale + Depth AI provides the scale to generate numerous options, while human validation provides the depth of understanding required to select the right ones. This combination addresses both the breadth and depth dimensions of effective design.

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At Optimal, we're committed to helping you navigate this new landscape by providing the tools you need to ensure AI-generated designs truly resonate with the humans who will use them. Our human validation platform is the essential complement to AI's creative potential, turning promising designs into proven experiences.

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Introducing the Optimal + Lovable Integration: Bridging AI Innovation with Human Validation

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At Optimal, we've always believed in the power of human feedback to create truly effective designs. Now, with our new Lovable integration, we're making it easier than ever to validate AI-generated designs with real users.

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Here's how our integrated approach works:

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1. Generate Innovative Designs with Lovable

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Lovable allows you to:

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• Explore emotional dimensions of design through AI prompting
• Generate multiple design variations in minutes
• Create interfaces that feel aligned with your brand's emotional targets

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2. Validate Those Designs with Optimal

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Interactive Prototype Testing Our integration lets you import Lovable designs directly as interactive prototypes, allowing users to click, navigate, and experience your AI-generated interfaces in a realistic environment. This reveals critical insights about how users naturally interact with your design.

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Ready to Transform Your Design Process?

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Try our Optimal + Lovable integration today and experience the power of combining AI innovation with human validation. Your first study is on us! See firsthand how real user feedback can elevate your AI-generated designs from interesting to truly effective.

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Try the Optimal + Lovable Integration today

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