Case Study | Image Insight

Making space for deeper reflection

Digital coaching tool that uses images and visual metaphors to prompt deeper reflection in online and face-to-face sessions.

Interaction designVisual designAccessibility

Role

Product and visual design

Team

Co-founder and engineering

Timeframe

3 days / 2026

Key points

Simplified a working prototype into a calm, low-friction coaching experience
Adapted to different participants’ needs, based on beta testing
Refined the session workflow in response to feedback from a school’s beta

The session opened to full screen: a large 'What cards represent your weaknesses?' heading above three chosen images, with 'Review session' and 'Add question' below. — The redesign in one view: the question and the chosen images hold the centre, and the rest of the interface steps back.

Summary

Image Insight’s co-founder approached me with a working prototype for digital coaching cards. The concept was there, but the visual design felt clunky and the user experience needed simplifying.

I refined the interface and key interactions, creating an elegant, low-friction experience where imagery and conversation take centre stage. I subsequently helped refine the product in response to beta feedback.

Problem

Bringing coaching cards into a digital session

Physical image cards give people a starting point for conversations that can be difficult to begin with words alone. Taking that approach online makes it possible to explore images together during a video call, then capture the reflections and actions in one place.

The tool was intended for coaches and therapists, including those working in schools with children from primary age through to teenagers. The design needed to support the conversation without becoming another task to manage.

Image Insight's main screen: a scrolling grid of photographs with a floating toolbar, alongside a 'My session' panel holding the coach's question and the participant's chosen images. — Images to explore together in a session, with the session’s picks and notes gathered in one panel: the conversation supported without being another tool to manage.

Approach

A calm environment for reflection

At Quantemplate, I designed deep capabilities for power users. Image Insight was about stripping things away, letting imagery and conversation take centre stage.

I retained the original UI concept, introducing whitespace, calming colours and a clearer visual hierarchy. This was informed by my prior work in education and healthcare, where a ‘therapeutic environment’ has been shown to improve wellbeing.

I also identified bottlenecks and points of confusion, making actions clearer across the app. Settings and login pages continued the same calm visual approach.

I designed the logo around the app’s signature image grid, reflecting connection and personal growth.

More visual identities and material explorations →

Image Insight's dashboard: cards for a new session and past sessions, a count of completed and active sessions, and panels for referrals, tutorials and support. — The dashboard applies the same calm treatment across the app: one clear primary action, a light summary of activity, and help within reach.

Image Insight's sign-in page: a soft card on a pale teal background patterned with the app's rounded image-grid motif, with email and password fields and Google or Azure options. — The sign-in page: the same calm palette and generous whitespace as the rest of the app, and a logo built from the signature image grid.

Key decisions

Keeping imagery and conversation at the centre

The coach asks an open-ended question and the participant selects images from a grid. These become talking points, with reflections translated into actions. A downloadable PDF records the session, with key actions foregrounded.

Adult, teen and child modes change the selection of images shown. AI can describe images to help narrow the selection.

My focus was on making the surrounding interface simple enough for the coach and participant to stay with the conversation.

Session settings panel: easy to flip into session settings, which otherwise stay out of the way.

Implementation

Validating the approach

The app was trialled in a beta with two schools. Feedback on the design approach was overwhelmingly positive.

It gave a focus to answering the question, without distracting from the question. Helen, Client · Source

I love the simplicity. Ed, Head Teacher / Coach · Source

Image Insight's session review screen: each chosen image paired with the participant's reflection, and an Actions panel listing next steps to carry forward. — The session review pairs each image with its reflection and foregrounds the actions to take forward, ready to export as a PDF.

A one-page PDF session summary: an Image Insight header, a narrative summary, a list of actions, and the session review questions with their images and reflections. — The downloadable summary the coach shares afterwards: the narrative, the actions to take forward, and the images and reflections from the review.

Refining around real sessions

Feedback from the beta cohort highlighted two areas where the interface needed to be more flexible.

Starting a session

Coaches wanted to begin immediately rather than schedule something for later. Engineering proposed a separate instant-session button. I made the case for one clear entry point for a new session, avoiding competing actions for essentially the same task.

A menu opening from the sidebar's add button: 'New session — start a session using your default settings' above 'Schedule a session — schedule and customise a session'. — One entry point for a new session: start straight away on default settings, or open the same flow to schedule and customise.

Controlling the image grid

Coaches reported that a large grid could feel overwhelming for some participants, including some neurodivergent children and young people. We added a slider to control how many images were displayed. I floated it over the bottom of the grid so coaches could see the effect immediately and adjust it during the conversation.

A toolbar floating over the bottom of the image grid: a Refresh button, a gallery selector reading 'Standard', and a slider set to 25 images. — The grid toolbar floats over the images: refresh for a new batch, a gallery selector, and a slider for how many images show.

A gallery selector let coaches choose different image collections, while a refresh button brought up a new batch. Together, these controls made it easier to adapt the session to the person taking part.

Outcome

An interface that leaves room for conversation

The beta test across two schools and 120 active users showed some promising early results, with positive qualitative feedback, and a 71% completion rate on sessions. This provides a good baseline for testing the recent round of improvements.

Coaches highlighted the tool’s simplicity, while co-founder Anna Malone credited the design work with making the product easier to use.

Tom has been crucial in transforming Image Insight from a clunky MVP to an intuitive, easy-to-use product that I’m really proud of. Anna Malone, Co-founder, Image Insight

Resources

Image Insight