Instagram IOS app
(adding group feature to the existing app)
Summary
Instagram allows users to edit and upload photos and short videos through a mobile app. Users can add a caption to each of their posts and use hashtags and location-based geotags to index these posts and make them searchable by other users within the app.
Project Brief:
Incorporating a group feature within Instagram app and giving users an option to categorize accounts that they follow to deliver more accurate content.
Role
Worked on User research, UX design, Prototyping.
Tools Used
Figma, Maze
Team of
3 UX/UI Designers
Timeline
2 weeks
What we did?
Discover
User Interviews
10
User Type
Personal, Business
User Survey Responses
30
Key Insights from user research:
Business and Personal users have different needs
Overwhelmed by the content in their feed
Expressed a desire to organize account and content
User survey for feature inventory: Conducted user survey online to understand what features do our user’s value. We decided to ask about what current features were useful and what would they like to add to Instagram. The purpose of this was to verify if users would be interested in grouping accounts and having a custom feed that filled their personal taste. We received 30 responses, that helped us in feature inventory with the most valued vs least valued. We concluded that our grouping features was something users are interested in.
Define
Through the process of affinity mapping, we were able to synthesize the inputs from the user interview and obtain insights about the user.
Synthesizing user research told us that our users are:
Seasoned but still can’t find what they are looking for
Value ease and familiarity.
They find most of the features intuitive and valuable.
Do not have an option to filter the content. Hashtags, saved posts, and the search engine is not efficiently giving the user what they immediately want.
How does Instagram compare?
We compared Instagram with other leading social media apps on categorization, search and content personalization features. We understood that twitter is very user friendly with all personalization features compared to other apps . So , we considered all the insights that we got to make Instagram group personalization feature to be more interactive and user friendly .
What does Task Analysis reveal?
We did a series of task analysis with other social media apps to see how many clicks takes place in order to complete a single task like following an account , discover new content, filtering the content in the feed . This helped us to design Instagram group feature with minimum number of clicks to make it user friendly.
Persona
The Problem :
Instagram users need a way to organize their feed so that they can choose content that suits their current preference.
Design
Based on user research synthesis and review of the current Instagram design, we created a sitemap to capture the new features. Creating the site map and figuring out where to add the new Grouping feature helped us a lot to create efficient user flows and to give the whole team an understanding of the solution.
Design studio ideation helped us in communicating our ideas and finalizing our design through our sketches on how to include categorization and personalization of group feature within the Instagram app that includes,
Creating groups and adding accounts to groups
View and edit groups
Personalize feed content by filtering based groups
Iterative Usability testing of the prototype helped fix gaps in designs. As onboarding was too quick, users expressed that they missed onboarding could not perform the first 2 tasks without miss clicks. Making onboarding more interactive ,users were able to understand and complete the task .
Adding contextual navigation for group management: One of the feedback that we got was that the user didn’t know in which group they are in. So we updated the top navigation bar to show the group name. We made sure users know which group they are in and gave them the ability to remove and add accounts quickly.
Deliver
Prototype
Our usability testing gave us insightful findings that would guide us to design and implement iterations to our lo-fi prototype and convert that into hi-fi prototype.
Filter the feed by group
Providing users ability to view content in the feed based on the group selected.
Adding account to groups
Ability to add an account to one or more existing groups.
Create a new group
Users can create new groups and add accounts to it
Search for accounts saved in groups
When Users search accounts, now they would have an option to view search results categorized by groups.
Manage groups
Users can create, delete, rename groups. Also can add/remove accounts from groups.
Outcome:
The final design reflected the features and insights that we got through user interviews and user survey. Keeping in mind that our users are seasoned using the app, still can’t find what they are looking for, they value ease and familiarity. Users found the new features intuitive and valuable to customize their feed based on the groups that they follow, ability to add /delete group so that they are not overwhelmed with the content.
Reflection:
This was my first group project. Working as a team helped me understand how we can make user experience better by communicating different ideas. Understand our users better from different perspectives. Adding a new group feature within the existing app was challenging as most of the users are familiar using Instagram. It was a great learning experience throughout the project and during usability testing as we could see how users use a new feature and was further able to understand their behaviours and expectations.