Company
Deliverables
Problem Framing
Concept Design
Hi-fidelity Prototyping
Product Pitching
Timeline
1 week design sprint
Team
3 Product Designers
1 Product Manager
Instagram - Daily
This Design Hackathon, hosted by Canva & Prodigi, tasked participants with designing an in-app editor feature for social media platforms. Our team decided to focus on mental wellbeing, uncovering that social media users, particularly millennials, often feel frustrated and pressured to present their 'best self.' This leads to feelings of inadequacy and a decline in active users. To address this, we identified an opportunity to re-engage users by creating an authentic digital space where they can comfortably express themselves.
Market research
There are 2 Billion total Instagram users at the moment; however, 300 million are inactive.
Instagram continued its downward trend with an engagement rate of 0.43%, a 50% reduction from 2021 of 0.98%
64% use Instagram to seek out funny or entertaining content. Almost half of Instagram users use the app to keep up with the news.
47% of Millennials use Instagram as a Messaging App
We have observed a shift in user behavior on Instagram from self-expression to information consumption. Despite this change, users still frequently use the platform for messaging purposes. Why is that?
Problem space
We began with a survey to understand the impact of social media on mental wellbeing and the motivations behind users' content posting. We received 39 responses.
Over 60% of users feel hesitant to post on social media
People care about what others think about them
Users find comfortable using the close-friends feature
Users feel that social media only presents the good side
72% still enjoy seeing constant updates and posts from friends and family.
We discovered that users are increasingly disenchanted with Instagram's heavily curated and filtered content. The emphasis on picture-perfect posts has created a lack of genuine connection, leading users to crave more authenticity and relatability in social media content.
Proto-persona
Problem statement
Social media users, especially millennials, increasingly feel pressured to post their 'best self,' leading to feelings of inadequacy. How might we create an authentic digital space where users can comfortably express themselves?
Project goal
To enable users to connect with friends and family more authentically, allowing them to share and engage with each other's lives through a creative medium.
Ideation
After collating insights from our surveys and user research, we paired with the designers and product manager to brainstorm how we could enable Instagram users to authentically connect with their friends and family and re-engage inactive users on the platform. We used the Lightning Design Jam to carry out the ideation session.
Solution
After prioritizing our ideas using the Customer Value-Effort Matrix, we outlined the optimal user flow. Given the project's time constraints, we promptly started prototyping these concepts. These prototypes represent our North Star designs — The daily feature, an in-app editor feature in Instagram that provides an authentic digital space where users can comfortably express themselves.
Posting daily is as simple as sharing a story.
Prompt users to share real-time moments spontaneously with notifications throughout the day.
Encourage users to share candid stories by eliminating the photo album feature.
Ensure that daily posts are exclusive and can only be viewed once users have posted their own content.
User testing results
8/8 Users enjoy being able to post candid photos and videos
7/8 Users feel more connected with their friend as they can share Daily at a similar times
88% Users are satisfied with the Instagram Daily feature
Users like the stress-free, comforting environment created by the Daily feature.
Improvement areas:
3/8 users expressed a desire for the option to extend the range of time when photos can be taken, including times later in the day (past 12am).
Some users felt compelled to interrupt their current activities in order to take the Daily photo.
Closing notes
Designing under Time Constraints: One of the most valuable lessons from this project is the importance of selecting the appropriate design process and research methods. Understanding what we don't know, defining our learning objectives, and designing solutions that resonate with users are critical skills for UX designers. Given the project's one-week timeline, we opted to deviate from conventional design processes. By focusing on essential design activities aligned with our learning goals, we aimed to deliver an optimized product efficiently and effectively.