A Reflection on Product Design
Living in the information age with the rise of technology, we are constantly surrounded by endless products but how many of these do we use daily?
A good product addresses and solves real problems. However, many of these products that we encounter every day are simply good enough. In contrast, a great product not only serves a user’s functional needs but also appeals to their emotional needs.
Take Instagram for example, a digital product with over a billion users with 42% accessing the app several times per day. Personally, for me, I am part of the number, and it’s an app that I cannot live without.
So what makes Instagram an innovative product? The main selling point is its flexibility and efficiency of use. The majority use the product for keeping in touch with their social circle. This has been vital during the outbreak of the global pandemic. With three national lockdowns in the UK, I haven’t been able to stay in touch with anyone in person. No coffee runs, no brunch catch-ups or dinner dates. Without digital products such as social media apps like Instagram, I would’ve felt lonely and out of touch.
How does Instagram serve this functionality? The introduction of live streams, 24-hour stories and direct messages — all of these have been designed for us to be able to see what everyone has been up to with just one tap of a button. While these are not considered new features with Snapchat popularising the idea of stories and Facebook Messenger existing for the last decade, Instagram was one of the first to incorporate these features into one place. After all, I prefer to use one app rather than three to declutter the number of digital products I use daily.
Beyond this, it elicits feelings of contentment when I use the app to converse with others. When a product becomes coupled with emotion, it leverages the user to come back to it much more than just a product that serves basic functionalities. This is what makes a product great.
With that being said, Instagram did start off as a vitamin pill, a nice incentive for me to keep in touch but it soon became a painkiller — an analogy popularised by Nir Eyal. The product was a habit, a lifestyle and an app I had to use to avoid FOMO — the fear of missing out.
Unfortunately, I am one of those who feels the need to take a picture before eating my meal to increase my social presence. Though, I would admit that it has been nice to look back at the photos I have taken with the added feature of being able to save stories to my profile. So I wouldn’t say Instagram is all bad, there are incentives too. Users just have to be mindful of how they use a product and learn to moderate its usage.
Overall, Instagram is a product that is accessible, memorable and efficient. Something that a great product should be. Features are continuously refined and developed with the user in mind. As there are always ways to improve a product, this is what attracts me to product design.
So, let’s end this with a thought. What products do you think are great?
