Instagram (Case Study)

Instagram

OVERVIEW

CHALLENGE Create a photo printing feature for Instagram with customization options

SOLUTION A simple single photo printing that allows for customization and gifting, taking into consideration user goals, business goals, and brand identity.

MY ROLE

PROCESS Research Ideation Design Iterations

a photo printing feature integrated into Instagram

TOOLS Pen & Paper InDesign Google Drive

PROJECT MANAGER I acted as project manager, focusing primarily on managing our schedule, research, feature definition, and testing.

This was a student project for General Assembly, created in a 1.5 week span with a team of three people.

Instagram

DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH ITERATIONS

overview | process | project management

OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH

RESEARCH IDEATE DESIGN ITERATE

• competitive analysis • contextual inquiry • surveys • user interviews • personas

• MVP • features • brainstorming • user flows

• rough sketches • use cases • app map • wireframes • user testing

• digital prototyping • user testing • multiple iterations

To find out more about Instagram users and photo printing

To develop key features and identify the value proposition

To develop interface, test, and refine user flows

To create digital prototypes, continue testing, and iterate

PROCESS

Here is a little more about our process and methods in approaching this project.

ITERATIONS


OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH ITERATIONS

As project manager, I created a project plan to keep us on track, as well as a more detailed task sheet with responsibilities and due dates.

I additionally had our team touched base with daily meetings to communicate our individual progress and stay on the same page.


DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCHOVERVIEW

KEY QUESTIONS • Who is using Instagram? • What do people love about Instagram? • What type of Instagram users already

print frequently? • Who is already offering digital printing? • How do people print their photos?

In approaching this project, we were looking for the intersection between users of Instagram and photo printing.

We conducted analyses of competitor apps that offered printing services, as well as a contextual inquiry of physical locations where people went to print.

competitive analysis | contextual inquiry | surveys | user interviews | personas

ITERATIONS

I printed a photo at a studio and observed several other people printing to understand the flow of the printing process.


competitive analysis | contextual inquiry | surveys | user interviews | personas

We additionally interviewed 24 users who used Instagram and had printed photos in the past. We synthesized common pain points, habits, and needs into 5 personas.

We collected data about printing needs and Instagram use from 2 surveys and 90 respondents, all of whom indicated interest in printing from Instagram.

ITERATIONS

91% 73%

87% 83%

individual prints individual frames prints

print for themselves

gifts for friends/family

• Joy, the DIY gift-giver • Ariana, the young mom • Jeff, the iphonegrapher • Mickey, the print enthusiast

diana

BACKSTORYDiana is just out of college and her friends are scattered across the States. She feels nostalgic for her college days and she wants a way to remember them as she navigates through a new city and new job. She also likes to send her friend gifts to share with them social moments.

PAIN POINTS

USE CASES

BEHAVIOR

NEEDS

I want to capture the social moment.

• Good quality• Reasonable price• Reasonable price

• Inconsistent quality• Time consuming

• Diana wants to send her friend Katie a print for her bday

Age: 23 | Gender: Female | Instagram Use: Frequent

• Diana wants to print out photos from college to put on her bedroom wall

• Posts: friends, vacation, family, nature

• Prints for: For herself to remember, gifts for friends

Diana, the memories collector

OTHER PERSONAS


MVP | features | brainstorming | user flows

We considered user needs, business goals, and brand identity, making use of takeaways from our research, personas, and writing out user flows to find the MVP and prioritize features with the MSCW method.

Ultimately, our key takeaway was that “less is more” for an Instagram printing feature, as Instagram was distinctly liked by users for its ease of use and simplicity.

Brainstorming the MVP and prioritizing features on the whiteboard.

while still offering enough customization options for gifting to friends and family, in keeping with the Instagram filters and

social sharing.

Less is more:

ITERATIONS


We collaborated on ideating and sketching interfaces in a multiple design studio sessions.

I created a paper prototype to test the printing feature selection and checkout flow, which also functioned as low fidelity wireframes.

rough sketches | paper prototyping | wireframes | use cases | user testing

ITERATIONS

A paper prototype demonstrating how you can scroll through features at the bottom of the screen.

ITERATIONSDESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCHOVERVIEW

I created 2 use cases for our primary and secondary personas, Diana (the memories collector) and Joy (the DIY gift giver) to use for testing.

The digital prototype demonstrates the first use case, available at the link. We used this to test more subtle interactions and interface details, such as gestures and color.

rough sketches | paper prototyping | wireframes | use cases | user testing

USE CASE 1 USE CASE 2You are at a party and you just took a picture of your friend Katie and posted it to Instagram. You want to give the photo to her as a present while at the party.

You’re at home. You’re making a scrapbook for your mom’s birthday and you want to use one of your Instagram photos in your feed for one of the pages.

DIGITAL PROTOTYPE: https://projects.invisionapp.com/m/share/C620CG03X

https://projects.invisionapp.com/m/share/C620CG03X


Though our design studio sessions and early sketches began with scrolling up and down on the screen to select options, I observed that users may be more familiar with the side to side interaction seen in Instagram’s filter function.

Here you can see the progression from sketches to high fidelity mockups. Ultimately, due to time constraints, we focused our iterations on refining user interactions with the printing customization options.

iterations | mockups


INSTAGRAM FILTERS ITERATIONS

i.1

i.2

i.3

i.4


We iterated on how users would move through customization options, defaults(and how they were indicated), and a messaging option.

The basis for the interface in our printing customization feature was the design pattern used in Instagram filters, to give users a sense of familiarity and to seamlessly integrate with the app.


Ultimately, we had icons to represent different customization categories (paper type, border, etc.). The categories and icons were both tested through multivariate testing.

Each set of options could be accessed either by swiping or tapping. Selections were indicated with a blue line underneath each option and text above. As each feature was selected, the photo changed to reflect your choices.


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