Acerca de
A take on editing tools for Instagram stories
Can we help Instagram users explore their creativity while uploading stories?
Instagram is one of the most used applications today. They were the first to introduce the idea of stories where a user can upload something for a short period of time that they don't want permanently to be visible on their social media life. With this project,
I am shedding some light on their current method of editing stories and try to conceptualize them in a more usable way.
This is a personal project and a small thing like posting a story on Instagram drew my interest and how could I use my alma matter over it
Role
UX Researcher
Duration
2 weeks
Status
Concept
Challenge
Instagram allows users to create and post stories of anything and everything they want on their accounts. Yet due to some technical barriers users are unable to explore their creative side fully. The users don't want to feel restricted while creating their artwork (if I may call it that).
My research encompassed:
-
Talking to unique Instagram users.
-
Understanding the user goals and needs.
-
Recognizing different methods for solving this problem.
User Research
I performed a series of customer discovery interviews. I wanted to understand how different type of users edit their stories and how many of them face issues while doing it. This helped me understand if and at what scale does the problem exists.
I made sure I took 3 kinds of Instagram users so that for every type the frequency and reason would be different to put up a story
I interviewed 15 people who had different roles and uploaded stories in different frequencies.
Professionals
Creative
Background
Students
50%
users post a story once in 1 month
30%
users post a story once in a week
20%
users post a story once in 3 months
Key Insights
01. Unable to change image size and shape:
A lot of users do not want to post the whole image on their stories, currently either they use another app to crop it or cover that part with graphics or try to zoom in and take it out of the screen.
02. Remaking similar artwork:
This was a very important insight as most users said we only upload our stories in 2-3 styles and we have to remake it every time with a new image. If Instagram has the option to reuse posts in some standard styles it would save them time.
03. Unrealistic Filters/edit options:
The image filters and the latest introduced effects that change features and skin color feels fake for the users. Users move to other apps because they offer much better editing tools and customizable filters as different people have a different idea of what and how the artwork/post can be enhanced.
04. Better way to save stories:
In between editing a story users cannot close the window before completing as they cannot continue to edit the same artwork later, they have to start it from scratch even if it is saved. Also, once we save it there are few constraints on it, for example, if you have added a song in the background it cannot be saved.
"I want to add quotes I like from authors like you add music."
- Soumya
"I love to add different music to my story but I can’t mix sound. Other apps are powerful and simple."
- Aakash
"I want it to just do it on its own by making it unique yet trendy."
- Charu
"More variety in filters, more tools for reshaping or uploading wide angle"
- Sarthak
Looking at the alternates available right now
In the interview, I got to know about a lot of new applications which people use to edit their Instagram stories, before that I thought there were only 2-3 popular ones. Below are a few they mentioned which helped them create what they desired.
We took 3 of these apps and saw what they had which Instagram didn't.
Canva
-
It asks the purpose of the artwork post, story, logo, etc. which helps in predefining the size.
​
-
It offers templates that could be used easily used by just changing images and text.
​
-
It has a wide range of fonts and background options.
VSCO
-
The level of precision it has for image editing is incomparable.
-
It saves a history of your edits which can be reused or tell what customization you used.
​​
-
It also suggests you the best filter suited for the image according to its lighting.
Inshot
-
This app is more used for video editing and you can resize videos as well.
​
-
It is very easy to cut a part of a video and repaste or remove it completely.
​​
-
You can also add more than one music option in a single video.
To Summarize
We saw the above apps are somehow solving the exact issues which we gathered from our interviews. This helped us validate the problem we are trying to solve.
What are the goals?
Contextual Editing Suggestions:
Many users styles their artwork in a similar manner, Instagram should suggest it the next time. For example, a font someone uses regularly or a graphic used on a meme image.
Simple and Fast:
If we propose the idea to increase customization in Instagram story editing, it should be simple to use and be able to make changes fast. Otherwise, instead of solving the problem, it may create new ones.
Help users learn with recognition:
The editing tools should not be thrown at the user all at once. Let them explore and enjoy the process of building an artwork using their creative side. While doing so they will recognize new features eventually and give them a feeling of achievement.
Limitations to Consider
We cannot change the current design completely as it might impact business. The upgrade should be seamless and starting with minor changes that can be fitted in the current UI and reduce the development timeline.
Design Solutions
I tried below a few options exploring the possibilities which could incorporate most of our insights to provide a better experience in editing Instagram stories. Each concept comes with some limitations which could be solved when these ideas become more concrete and move to the next phase.
Concept 1
Suggesting Templates in the create mode
Instagram can suggest predefined templates in which people can just change the image, edit the text, etc. according to their requirements. These could be in some standard styles for example birthday wishes, any upcoming festival, some recent popular event, or just a meme post.
Limitation: having such heavy graphic templates with editable options may make the application heavy and give a lag in the editing process to the user
Concept 2
Resizing and cropping any image freely
In the current process we can only resize or the image which is also not very user-friendly as it is basically a zoom-in or zoom-out. If we allow people to crop a part of an image once selected it will make their life easier instead of doing that on another app and them pasting here.
Limitation: there could be a case where the shape of the image might create an issue to be cropped.
Concept 3
Option to choose from variety of Fonts
This particular solution has been on my mind for a while now, I don't know why do people still have only 8 font options to choose from. I know influencers who go to other apps just to style their story in a new creative font. Let the people choose from a list of fonts and explore in their artwork.
Limitation: Instagram introduces background and animation according to the available font type. Creating these backgrounds for so many fonts would be a tedious task.