Instagram App Feature
Post Layout
Instagram, a leading social media platform, constantly evolves to enhance user engagement and satisfaction. This case study explores a proposed feature allowing users to rearrange posts in their feed. The aim is to evaluate its potential impact on user experience, engagement metrics, and business objectives
Year Role Timeline
2024 UX Researcher/UI Designer 3 Months
Problem Statement
Users often wish to curate their Instagram feed to highlight specific posts or showcase particular moments in a more personalized manner. The current algorithmic and chronological order does not provide the flexibility needed for users to organize their posts according to their preferences, leading to frustration and a less personalized experience.
Step 1: Research Investigating
I began this project by first collecting data. I searched reviews of the Instagram mobile app. I gathered some useful ideas for features that could be incorporated to elevate the user experience. It was clear from my findings that many users have already reported wanting more creative freedom with their feed.
Pain Points
Users currently have limited control over the order of their posts, leading to dissatisfaction when they want to showcase specific content more prominently.
Usage Scenarios
Users wanted to rearrange posts for various reasons, including aesthetic improvements, highlighting important events, and thematic curation.
Step 2: Define
After getting an idea of what users might be looking for, we start to identify possible objectives of this feature and how it can impactful to user's experience
Feature Goals
User Control: Allow users to manually rearrange their posts within their feed.
Enhanced Visibility: Enable users to highlight significant posts or create a visually appealing feed layout.
User Experience: Provide an intuitive interface for easy and seamless post rearrangement.
Step 3: Design
Wireframe: To get the basic concept of this feature, it is important to make a mock-up of the mechanisms. The wireframe demonstrates an added drag-and-drop feature on the user’s profile page. Users can tap and hold a post to move it to a new position.
Interaction Design: Users would be able to enter a "Rearrange Mode" where posts become draggable. Drag-and-drop functionality was chosen for its intuitive nature, allowing users to simply hold and drag a post to a new position in their grid.
Visual Aesthetics: To maintain Instagram’s minimalist aesthetic, the rearrange mode used a subtle overlay on posts with visible grid lines indicating where the post would move.
Feedback Mechanism: A confirmation dialog was designed to ensure users were confident in saving their new post arrangement.
I started to develop a High-Fidelity model of this feature
