Instagram Case Study

I know what you’re thinking, another aspirational app redesign 🙄 Yes, blue-sky redesigns of popular apps are popular design exercises, but this isn’t a redesign, this is the *re-imagination* of a time-saving, and possibly even life-saving feature that Instagram is in desperate need of. I spend a lot of time on Instagram (more than I’m willing to admit), and as I’ve spent more and more time on the app, I noticed a problem.

The Problem: You liked a creator’s post a few weeks ago, but when you go to your Posts You’ve Liked page you can’t find it. You remember the creator whose post you liked, but for some reason, you just can’t find the post on their grid. If only there was a way to see liked posts by creator on Instagram.

The Solution: The addition of a Posts You’ve Liked tab on user profiles. Now, when you visit a user’s grid, you can quickly reference an area that saves all of your likes from that specific user. No more endlessly scrolling through the Posts You’ve Liked page to try to find the cute pair of shoes your favorite influencer posted 7 weeks ago.

You’re probably thinking, Temi, if an Instagram user wants to quickly reference a post, wouldn’t they just save it? Great thought, but saving posts isn’t as intuitive as you might think—this is something I learned when I created a survey, asking 25 of my friends and followers to give me more insight into how they use likes vs. saves and if they’re as frustrated with not having an organized way to reference liked posts as I am.

Tools Used: Adobe Illustrator & Figma

Whether or not a liked posts profile grid feature would be used often was a concern of mine, so I asked respondents how often they interact with profile grid tabs like Tagged Posts, Camera Filter, Reels, IGTV, and Shop to filter out a user’s content.

• 21 respondents regularly used profile grid tabs

• 4 respondents preferred to see all content on the grid

• The tagged posts tab was most frequented by respondents

• The Camera Filter tab was least frequented by respondents

• 16 respondents thought that when a user has a lot of tabs it can look overwhelming

The Conclusion

Instagram users are frustrated that there is no way to easily reference liked posts. Saving a post isn’t as intuitive as liking, and users want a way to easily reference posts they’ve liked. The addition of a Posts You’ve Liked profile grid tab can help to keep liked content organized and encourage users to engage with content more, giving users the sense of creating their own grids for the creators they follow by filtering out content they don’t interact with.

Wireframing

Having too many active profile grid tabs was a major concern of mine, so I started wireframing to see how the layout of profiles could be modified to accommodate an extra tab without drastically changing the look/feel of the current user profile design.

OPTION 01

I wanted to minimize the number of profile grid tabs while keeping the functionality of filtered content, so instead of adding a new profile grid tab to the profile grid, I moved liked posts to the bio area of the user profile under the Following button in User profiles that triggers a pop-up menu at the bottom of the screen.

OPTION 02

In the most inconspicuous layout, I opted to add a Posts You’ve Liked navigation to the upper-right-hand 3 dot menu that triggers a pop-up menu from the bottom of the screen that takes users to a Likes page.

OPTION 03

I added Liked Posts as an 8th tab to the profile grid that triggers a filtered feed of only liked posts.

Prototypes

I created a prototype for each option and sent the prototypes to 5 respondents with a note about where each Post You’ve Liked section would be. I asked each respondent to interact with the prototypes a few times and let me know which option felt the most intuitive to them and why.

OPTION 01

View the Prototype

OPTION 02

View the Prototype

OPTION 03

View the Prototype

Option 03 was the winner!

• 4/5 testers preferred Option 3 because it felt the most intuitive to the way they already use Instagram

• 1/5 testers preferred Option 2 because they found seeing all 8 profile grid tabs at once slightly overwhelming, but mentioned 8 tabs could be something they could get used to

• 5/5 testers agreed that removing a few profile tab options would strike the perfect balance for Option 3

In Conclusion

I learned that my initial frustration with the lack of an easy access Posts You’ve Liked feature was shared with everyone who responded to my survey. I learned that most Instagram users want a more personalized experience, a sentiment that is important now more than ever in the post-chronological Instagram feed era.

Users feel like they don’t have control over the content that they see because everything is controlled by the ever-elusive Algorithm. Users want more ways to prioritize the content that is most important to them and they need quicker ways to access it.

I also learned that there is frustration with the number of clicks it takes to reach certain content, like the current design of Posts You’ve Like, and even the amount of clicks it takes to post new content on the app. Instagram is transforming from a photo app to more of a video/dynamic content and shopping network, but this is causing a buildup of features and clicks that can feel overwhelming to users. As new features are added, Instagram needs to start rethinking how users interact with content and streamline the app to decrease content overload.

Glossier App Design

Much to my chagrin, there is no app for the beloved skincare brand, Glossier. A playful brand, draped in Millennial pink, cute iconography, and minimalism—basically my dream client.

I prefer to shop in-app for all of my favorite stores, so when I realized that Glossier doesn’t have an app yet, I decided to design one myself and put it out in the universe. I wanted to focus on UI design and create an app that gives users more control/customization, prioritizes key content, feels intuitive, makes content one-hand accessible, and feels on-brand.

Splash Page & Login

Election App (in progress project)

The Problems:

“Fake News”. There is an increase of misinformation and mistrust in the U.S. democratic system. In the past four years, younger voters have grown increasingly disillusioned by the amount of conflicting information that is presented in the media and have grown pessimistic, believing that their vote does not really matter.

Voter I.D. Laws. Due to racial tension in the U.S. many people opt to not vote due to fear of polling place harassment, criminal records, & government I.D. restrictions.

Voter Fraud. Russian Hacks, miscounting, & repeat voters, oh my! During the 2020 election, it seemed as if any and every issue plagued the vote-counting process.

The Solution: A verified app that provides official information about the candidates and their platform, polling place locations, reminders to register to vote, election countdowns, and information on the history and importance of voting in America. The app will serve as a hub where voters can form subgroups to have discussions, make friends, engage in debates, and in a perfect unhackable future, even vote.

We live in a digital world that is growing exponentially, our election process needs to match the times that we live in where consolidated verified candidate & election information is easily accessible in one place.

Qualitative Research:

I asked five men and five women ages 23-30 about their thought on the election and voting process:

• All 10 respondents agreed that social media influences their voting decisions in some way

  • 4 respondents solely rely on social media to receive candidate information & decide on whom to vote for

  • 3 respondents rely more on the candidate websites to receive information & decide on whom to vote for

  • 2 respondents rely more on their families when deciding whom to vote for

  • 1 respondent relies on the news/media when deciding whom to vote for

  • 3 respondents admitted to voting for candidates based on social media popularity/influence

• 4/10 respondents identified as Independents

• 2/10 respondents identified as a Republicans

• 4/10 respondents identified as Democrats

• All 10 respondents agreed that they became disenchanted after the 2016 election and began to question if their vote really matters

• 3/10 respondents voted in the 2018 midterm election

  • 5 respondents who did not vote in the midterms said it was because of the 2016 election results

  • 1 respondent did not vote in the midterms because they forgot

  • 1 respondent did not vote in the midterms because they were too busy

• All 10 respondents agree that there is a lack of education about how to become an informed voter in U.S. schools

  • 3/10 respondents could not recall learning about how to vote in school

  • 10/10 respondents had to Google to get information about their polling place, candidate info, and how to use the voting machines

User Persona

Name: Keisha Simms
Age: 25
Location: New York, NY
Income: $50,000/year
Voter Registration: Registered Democrat

Goals:
- Earn a promotion in the next 12 months
- Get married in the next 2 years
- Pay off her student loans in the next 5 years

Frustrations:
- Feels like she’s voting blind
- Not sure how her vote counts
- Peer pressure to vote for certain candidates
- Political affiliations feel like a secret

Bio: Keisha votes in every presidential election, however, she doesn’t actually know anything about the candidates she votes for. Keisha votes because it’s the thing you’re supposed to do, but as she gets older and has more responsibility, she’s starting to realize that your vote matters and being an informed voter is the only way to bring about real change. Keisha wants to become a more informed voter, but she’s not sure how because she doesn’t know where to start.

Wireframes

Onboarding: I wanted to keep the design straightforward & easy to navigate so I decided to add an onboarding process before the User gets to the login screen. The Onboarding screen will provide 3 different windows of information that can be swiped through or will slide automatically. The onboarding screen will only populate upon the first time the app is opened; after that, the app will load to the login screen.

Login: I kept the login screen standard with a block for the logo & app description with the option to sign up or login below.

Newsfeed: I added a stories option so Users can see what people they follow are up to. The newsfeed is arranged in chronological order and shows photos and status updates that can be liked, commented on, or shared.

User Profile: User profiles can be customized & Users will be able to select what they want to highlight: favorites, photos, or a bio. User activity is also displayed on their profile where you can see what they have liked or commented on.

Candidate Profile: Candidate profiles are similar to User profiles, but Candidate profiles are verified, show related groups and have a longer About Me section.

Group: Group pages feature a large Join Group button and a compose window where Users can add comments, photos, links, or attachments to the group’s feed.