Helping multi-passionate Instagram users take control of their feed
Project Overview
Problem
Users want to see posts from particular accounts, but strugle to find them
Instagram users with multiple interests often want to see posts only on a particular topic. But they fail to find relevant accounts fast because they follow 500+ creators. They end up frustrated. Users are cautious about following more people because they do not want to be overwhelmed. They are afraid they are missing out on important updates.
Solution
This project suggests adding a feature to Instagram to separate posts on various interests.
Duration: 80 hours
Client: DesignLab student project
My role: Ux designer
Focus: Research and Interaction Desing
Disclaimer: The project is concept work and doesn’t represent Instagram
Discovery
Empathizing with users and zooming in on how Instagram feed works
What is Instagram?
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Over 1 billion people use Instagram to share and see to share and pictures and videos.
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The company says it connects people and businesses in a meaningful way
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Instagram feed is based on algorithms that take into consideration what posts the user interacts with and how often they visit it
User research
People use Instagram to connect and discover but are concerned about time spent browsing
I interviewed 6 people who follow 500+ accounts. They were in the 20-40 age group as are the majority of Instagram users, 2 males, 4 females.
The affinity map helped me see common emotions, goals, and motivations
Users’ Main Concerns
Interview Insights
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People open Instagram to see something fun, beautiful, inspiring and "happening now." But they often feel their feed is “boring and the same.” They are concerned they are missing something out because of the algorithms.
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Users are concerned about the time they spend scrolling the feed, some even set timers.
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People try to curate what they see with various hacks, i.e. they create several accounts, manually change settings for different accounts they follow..
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When users want to check a particular account they follow, they find it challenging if they don't remember the exact spelling.
Define
Synthesising research insights to find out main friction points
The empathy map helped me zero in on what users think and feel when using Instagram
Meet Anna. She is interested in cooking, drawing, traveling. She follows 800+ accounts on Instagram. A quarter of them are her friends from different stages of her life. The rest are popular creators, celebrities and businesses.
Customer Journey Map helped me see the friction points
Anna is trying to find the account of the artist she started following a few months ago. His drawings inspire her, but he doesn’t post often.
Ideation
Brainstorming ideas to help the user take control over the feed
HMW Statements focus on three main concerns
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HMW give users confidence that they are not missing out?
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HMW give users control of their feed?
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HMW help users not to waste their time?
I checked out if Instagram’s competitors are facing the same complaints and what they are doing about it
Users complained that Instagram’s direct competitors Pinterest and TikToc have a similar issue. They praised Twitter’s Lists. This feature allows to group accounts and/or hashtags in one feed that can be accessed through the menu.
I did several rounds of HMW questions and answers and came up with a final idea
Themes
The feature allows unite accounts and hashtags into groups so that user could control their feeds.
They can see feeds containing only posts from these accounts and be confident that they don’t miss out on important developments.
This will allow users to find what they need fast and save their time.
User Story Map helped me see the details of features and interactions
User Flow shows how Anna, the user, can now reach her goal
Anna is in the mood for some drawings. But she doesn’t see any posts on the subject in her main feed. So she goes to “Drawings” Theme that she created before.
Then she remembers that a few months ago she started following an artist who doesn’t post very often. She manages to find his account in the list of the ones included in “Drawing” Theme.
Development
Prototyping, testing the concept and the interaction design
Sketches helped me define how the new feature would fit into Instagram’s layout
The app doesn’t have much real estate at the top of the page where I wanted to add the Themes icon.
A/B testing of Themes screen
I made two versions of the Themes screen.
A. Based on the Search screen layout
B. Based on the Collections screen layout
B was 100% winner
Prototype contains two variants of getting to the Themes screen
Testing
Validating the concept and identifying friction points
Goal
1. Test the concept of the new feature
2. Find out possible frictions when people use the feature
3. Discover confusing experiences
Method and Scope
Unmoderated test via maze (10 people)
Moderated in person test (5 people)
All participants match the persona
Success
Concept Validation. All test participants loved the idea of creating separate feeds for their multiple interests and having more control over what they see.
Tasks Completed. Users could complete the tasks fast after they reached the pop-up menu.
What users said
“The themes are cool, feels as if the “Saved” and the “Follow Hashtag” features met and had a baby”
“I liked it! I would absolutely use it. I follow a lot of curated themes: food, UX, tattoos, travel and would love to deep dive into each of those uninterrupted”
Friction points
Getting to the Themes screen from the Home screen
Instagram usually creates a post when it rolls out new features explaining what to do. I’ve decided to ask users first where they would expect the feature.
Confusing experiences
Next Steps
Create and test other flows for Themes concept
Adjust the prototype and test a new version