A critique of Instagram
Instagram is currently the most popular social media application. I bet we all know what Instagram is, a social media app that is exclusively used to post pictures and videos. Launched in 2010 for iOS and 2012 for android it has come a long way. It is also now the most popular platform for people and businesses for marketing and promotions.
It completely destroyed the popular app Snapchat when it launched it’s story feature in August 2016.
In June 2018, stats showed that there were a billion monthly active users on Instagram.
The list of how Instagram has grown can go on and on.
The question is, is Instagram well designed? What makes it better than any other social media application? Why do people use it so much? And lastly, why is it so addicting?
I use Instagram on a daily basis and I have been using it actively since 3 years. Over time, it has changed constantly and only got better.
Coming to the point, let’s start with the analysis.
Affordances and signifiers
Home page
If you open Instagram, you will see almost every feature presented to you straightforwardly. Everything fits beautifully in within the fold of the screen without cluttering it. From the top, you can see all stories, option for new stories, messages, IG TV.
A static bar below on the screen has the icons for the home feed, explore page, adding a post, favorites and my profile icons.
Let’s discuss the affordances and signifiers here-
Icons- The icons on the screen are very well defined affordances. One can easily understand where the page will lead to just by looking at the icons.
Let us take the home icon at the bottom, it is darker in color than the rest of the icons that signifies well that the user is on the home screen. It helps the user keep track of the page they’re on and also helps them learn over time what each icon means if the user is new.
Let us take stories- the carousel at the top with round profile picture icons are stories of the people you follow. Colored rings around the stories signify that its an unseen or new story, this helps the user know which whose stories they have viewed.
Also, the label below your own story is a good signifier to help the users know where they can see their story and views.
Having so many components to the application, a new user can get a bit confused at first about a few icons. Like having an add button at the bottom and a camera icon at the upper left corner will make new users wonder if they both do the same thing or something entirely different. But it is very easy to learn and memorable.
Posts from people- posts on the home page have a very clean layout, one post covers the entire width and the icons below the picture define a like, message, comment and a bookmark for saving posts.
Double tapping the picture or taping the heart icon turns the icon red which signifies that the picture was liked.
Tapping the bookmark turns it black, signifying that it was saved.
Explore page
The explore page icon turns black signifying that the user is on the explore feed.
All the icons at the top right corner of a tile/post show if its a video, multiple pictures or single picture posts. These affordances are very well defined and do not need a label to signify what it means.
At the top, rounded rectangle tiles show different options of feeds to explore.
If it was not labelled it would not have been a great affordance. Labelling them makes sense as that signifies which feed the user on it. An underlined label signifies that.
Adding posts
Here again, Instagram does win hearts by placing everything on the screen without cluttering it. It has good labelled options instead of icons below which rules out any room for confusion.
However, what I really do not understand is why there are 2 unlabelled icons beside the select multiple option. Selecting multiple picture icon is something the users see regularly in posts with multiple pictures, I believe the signifier was not needed here. The other icons do need one though. Even after 3 years of use, I have not been able to completely understand these labels and what they entail. All they do it redirect me to the app store to download other applications.
Profile page
The profile page has a number of icons and most of them have been labelled to signify what each element means.
For the top, there is an archive icon which leads the user to their old stories. The icon, however needs a signifier as the users may not know what it means until they explore it.
A hamburger menu for further setting is placed on the top right.
The ring around the profile picture is an affordance that tells that the user has a story in the feed.
All the numbers are labelled that signify well about the number of posts, followers and following for the user.
Highlights is a feature to have old stories on display and all the highlights have been labelled to signify that it is not a story that is currently in the feed. This is a great signifier that avoids confusion to users.
The icons below the highlights could also use a label as new users would need to know what they mean without having to explore it.
For the favorites feed. It mainly consists of labels and statements hence, I will not dwell into it.
Coming to user stories
The last part that I will be discussing here will be user stories.
To post a story, you can do it three ways. Click the camera icon at the top left, swipe right when on the home screen or click your profile icon to get to it.
After clicking a picture it is pretty easy to figure out the features just through the icons. The option for my story and close friends story is also very well signified so as to not confuse the users.
For filters, they have multiple. The users have to swipe through each to find the one they want. All filters are very well signified to let the user learn them.
For fonts, all you have to do is tap to change its type. The options for color, size and alignment are displayed in a great way that doesn’t need any signifiers.
Discoverability and Understanding
For someone who has been using Instagram a long time. Understanding the app and discovering its feature is the very easy. However, someone new to Instagram might be overwhelmed by the features. Though it won’t take long for them to figure everything out as there aren’t any drill downs in the application or complicated functions. It is very intuitive and most affordances don’t require a signifier. The explore feed becomes a personal hub of all the things they love the more they use Instagram. The order of posts is not chronological but according to the users interests and who they’re most close to.
With everything being there right above the fold of the display, the user does not have to scroll down to find the major features.
However, the order of story views and follower requests is confusing as it always keeps changing and there is no proper explanation as to why it happens.
To state everything in a concise manner, I have discussed Instagram in terms of 5 areas of UX-
Usability-
Being a very easy app to use with a bunch if features, Instagram is an amazing social media platform. All of the features are very well designed and discoverable, that makes the user want to go back to it and use them again.
Utility-
With users increasing day by day, it is becoming a major platform to advertise and market products. In terms of utility, it is useful for both people and businesses. People feel connected to their social circle and businesses can continue to promote their products to millions daily. Though Instagram addiction can have negative impact on the users.
Functional integrity-
Instagram has been known to have small bugs now and then. Just a day back, a bug made people lose thousands of followers. The order of story views, follower requests is always inconsistent and full of bugs. Other than that, the app is authentic and amazing,.
Visual design-
Instagram not only has good interactions and experience but is also aesthetically pleasing. The purple and pink gradient along with a clean white background makes it visually appealing giving it a fun twist with the major colors. The consistency in logos, icons, font sizes, colors sets it apart from any other social media app.
Persuasiveness-
Having most of your friends and family on Instagram makes you want to post there, check their stories and feeds, explore what you love and so much more. Having so many features makes a user want to be on it all the time. And the explore feed…oh my god it is never ending! Instagram does a great job at keeping its users hooked.
So is Instagram really well designed?
The critique I conducted on the application does prove that instagram is in fact well designed. As explained above it proves that it is indeed designed for actions and not individuals, most affordances do not need a signifiers and they’re easily discoverable and understandable. It may not be the best in terms of functional integrity sometimes but has not really caused major issues. The design language is consistent and aesthetically pleasing along with being memorable. It persuades its use it and is not there just the sake of it. It’s also memorable, easy to understand and has high degree of functionality. It does work on web but the only drawback is that you cannot send messages.
I would conclude this by stating that Instagram has all its reasons to be the best social media platform there is and is one of the best applications I have used.
Proposed changes
Even though Instagram is very well designed application, every design has room for improvement.
I have three things that I would like to change in Instagram
Sending messages through web
It would be good feature to add, people can use their laptops to message their friends and send posts. They won’t be restricted by their cell-phones and that can improve usability.
Feature for people to choose the order of their feed- chronological or personalized
Post engagement with many accounts does reduce when the feed becomes personalized. The posts we see on a daily basis become redundant from the same accounts. This is a good and a bad thing, it can help users remove clutter posts from their feed but also frustrate them when they can’t find the feed from other accounts. They would need to search that account separately or scroll for hours!
Having an option to see feeds both ways can be helpful.
Chronological order of story views, post likes, follower requests etc.
Though there is no proper explanation for the order of your story, posts and request views and it keeps changing. This can really frustrating as it doesn’t have a logical reason. Having these in a chronological order will make it more organized and reduce confusion for users.
Closing thoughts
Was user centered design followed for Instagram?
I agree that user centered design was followed for Instagram. It’s user friendly, memorable, intuitive, useful and makes them feel connected to it. I look forward to what further improvements they would make in the future and how they will sustain their top spot.
