Case Study 3 : INSTAGRAM

Instagram was published at October 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger for Mac user. But Instagram become a hit for every smart user and they decide to create another version for other smart phone brand as well.  And Instagram was such a hit, Facebook decided to buy it over with 1billion dollar.
I am an "Instagrammer" also although i am not active on posting photo but i find a lot inspiration from the post that some other artist post.


Pro impact for professional in Creative industry:Instagram is similar apps like photoshop which create to photo editing and sharing. This apps was created because they can do the same job as digital so they decided to challenge that assumption. They created Instagram to solve three simple problems

Instagram FAQ:

1. Mobile photos always come out looking mediocre. Our awesome looking filters transform your photos into professional-looking snapshots
2. Sharing on multiple platforms is a pain - we help you take a picture once, then share it (instantly) on multiple service.
3. Most uploading experiences are clumsy and take forever - we've optimized the experience to be fast and efficient.

(http://instagram.com/about/faq/)


Instagram: A Model in Mobile Product Design & Strateg By Alex MoazedInside this article, Alex said that Instagram has become a case study in mobile strategy success. Other companies are now looking to learn from Instagram’s smart growth decisions and well-timed executions. 

Alex also analysis  that why Instagram will become success is because of this three point:
1. It stayed focused.

2. It chose the right platform.

3. It focused on data, not monetization. 

(http://www.applicoinc.com/instagram-a-model-in-product-design-and-mobile-strategy/)

Due to the success of the application, i think a lot of professional in the creative industry espeicially programmer and app designer would like to achieve something that are similar or even better. Which make Instagram like a benchmark for them to achieve. 

Although people will think that Instagram is just a normal photo editing and sharing apps but i think it can be use on a lot of ways especially promoting! 

As an"instagrammer" i follow a lot of artist that share their design through instagram, sometime even myself will post some of my artwork to instagram. By using instagram we can easily share to ou social network and through our social network we are able to get some feedback from the viewer and is kind of like promoting our artworks as well.

And while i am doing my research i found this article about 21 Stunning Examples of Businesses Using Instagram  by Carolyn Edgecomb in Social Engagement on February 25, 2013 which kind prove what i say is true.In the article, it show the way how you can make the most out of your Instagram page.

1. Keep Your Content Fresh, Interactive, and Aligned with Brand Attributes

1. Get Your Customers Involved

1. Use Compelling Images to Drive Traffic

1. Curate Images to Tell a Story

If you are interested you can visited this link(http://www.impactbnd.com/21-stunning-examples-of-businesses-using-instagram/)

Cons:This apps it kind like help the designer or business to make another platform to share their artwork but kind give the advertisement industry some headache of coming out a new way to advertise product.

Because of the abilities of Instagram, a lot of people can easily snap and design out the photo they prefer themselves which make them no need to go get any help from the professional. They user will rather take the photo themselves with their high mega pixel smart phone and filter with Instagram rather than spending money on finding a professional. And they can share their photo to the social network right after the finish filter the photo. And this what everyone nowadays needed, "FAST".

From 21 Stunning Examples of Businesses Using Instagram article, we can see that a lot of business is start to do their own advertising with the use social network and Photo Sharing Application. As i said in the Digital Camera blog post. The photo that had shared is no longer concert about the quality, is about the content that are try to tell. If the viewer get the content they needed and the image are pretty and nice they are ok with it. This is kind of a bad impact for the photographer and advertising company.

 

Others:The design of the apps and how the photo is snap is also impact for the professional in the creative industry especially photograph. Instagram app i almost like a digitize Instant film camera with cool vintage filter for user to apply after snapping a photo. Which the photos are all in square layout. This question was bring out by lecturer while he explaining the topic and it kind grab my attention. 

Will square image layout become the next trend for photographer or photography mobile apps. As i notice from some of the social network interface there start to apply this layout to their photo thumbnail, which are all square. For example facebook, user need click in to view the full images.  And will this slowly affect on how the designer layout their design this something unknown. 

And because of the square layout of instagram, it give opportunity for other apps designer to come out some app to the user to crop and place their design before they upload into instagram.

References

Applico. 2012. Instagram: A Model in Mobile Product Design & Strategy - Applico. [online] Available at: http://www.applicoinc.com/instagram-a-model-in-product-design-and-mobile-strategy/ [Accessed: 3 Jul 2013].
i found this information while searching about instagram and this show the design of mobile product and the strategic of it .

IMPACT Branding & Design. 2013. 21 Stunning Examples of Businesses Using Instagram. [online] Available at: http://www.impactbnd.com/21-stunning-examples-of-businesses-using-instagram/ [Accessed: 3 Jul 2013].
This website show the successful Business that use Instagram as a tool to their marketing tool.

Instagram.com. 2013. FAQ • Instagram. [online] Available at: http://instagram.com/about/faq/ [Accessed: 3 Jul 2013].
From this website we can find what are normal question been ask by the user. And from the site i found some very useful information that relevant to this topic.

Salzburn Designs. 2012. Instagram Case Study - Salzburn Designs. [online] Available at: http://salzburndesigns.com/gaming/instagram-case-study/ [Accessed: 3 Jul 2013].
I found this useful case study about Instagram by Salzburn Design which help analysed what is Instagram about.