How did you author the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
For this week’s photo post, I recorded an image of a door, at my work, right before I was about to use it. It’s a door that I’ve had in mind to record as part of this assignment, but I am always in a rush and forget. This door is a perfect example of Donald Norman’s quote ‘when instructions have to be pasted on something (push here), it is badly designed (Norman 1998 p.12). Everyone at my work hates this door! You have to firstly swipe your ID card to open it, and then it jams every time you try and use it. This image is therefore a great representation that bad design screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable (Norman 2008, p.1).
I authored the image on my iPhone 7 and used the back facing iPhone camera. I also moved my body so that only the middle of the door was in shot, and the ominous hallway behind it was visible. Because the ‘pull’ sign was shiny, I had to take this image 7 times to find the best spot without any glare.
My final image was extremely colourful, and was not part of my cohesive Instagram feed. I feel myself becoming the person that Lev Manovich discusses in Part 4 of his ‘The Aesthetic Society’, and I almost DIDN’T record this photo because of how many colours were in it, and how many lacked thereof on my Instagram account. Therefore, to edit this image, I did the usual Lux on 10, Aden on 30 and then applied another filter named ‘Moon’ to 50 to tone the image down.
Applying the new ‘Moon’ filter 
How did you publish the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I published the photo with a caption that expressed my frustration about the design of this door in an extremely subtle way. I added three hashtags, which is slightly more than normal and so far they haven’t garnered more likes but I will check back in a few days. The hashtags were; #push #pull #whynotboth?.Through this making media task, I’ve been able to delve into the hashtag space more than I usually do. Considering that before this assingment I only used hashtags as a joke (because my account is on private). This open style of network has allowed me to share my content with so many new and different users within this ‘nationless state’. I also don’t have to worry that the post isn’t a true reflection of myself or how others will perceive it.
This week’s post has made me reflect upon something interesting that I feel about Instagram. Why have I not had any engagement on my account? I have uploaded a total of 5 pieces of content now. Is it because I haven’t engaged with anyone else? I personally feel like going out on the platform and following others, liking and commenting on THEIR photos is more powerful way to engage and be seen than putting hashtags on your images.
How did you distribute the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I distributed the photo to Facebook and Twitter, and despite having a huge friends list, I don’t think this distribution strategy will increase traffic flow back to my Instagram account. Moreover, I believe our generation are inundated with content and my image is not of a person and is quite strange, so it may fall between the cracks.
My photo before it was published to Instagram, including ease of cross-platform distribution:
My Instagram photo distributed on Twitter:
My Instagram photo distributed on Facebook:
References:
Norman. D, 1998, ‘The Design of Everyday Things’, Basic Book, New York, pp.1
Norman. D, 2008, ‘Affordance, Conventions and Design (Part 2)’, Nielsen Norman Group, viewed 24th February 2020 <http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/affordance_conv.html>
Manovich. L, 2016, ‘The Aesthetic Society’, pp.1-4, viewed 26th February 2020 <http://manovich.net/index.php/projects/designing-and-living-instagram-photography>