Attribute

OVERVIEW

PROJECT TYPE

Attribute is a widget idea designed to streamline and enhance the crediting process on Instagram. It aims to empower creatives, foster collaborative efforts, and mitigate misattribution issues, ultimately enhancing the user experience for creatives. 

Individual, Experimental

TOOLS

Sketch
Adobe Photoshop
InVision Studio

THE IDEA BEHIND ATTRIBUTE

As someone who uses Instagram to find creatives and to post creatives, I've come to discover the power of crediting as well as the lack thereof. In a world where the distance to others is determined by a few taps of our fingers, the digital world plays a crucial role in connecting creatives together and effectively showcasing your own. However, many people who want to discover creatives are unable to do so due to the lack of crediting.

RESEARCH

From an online survey I conducted for this project, people think that most crediting doesn't occur on Instagram due to mainly the following reasons:

1) The caption gets messy.
2) It ruins the mood of the post.
3) The user wants all the credit.
4) It's a tedious task.
5) They don't realize how it could be important.

QUESTION

This sparks the quetion: How does one credit on Instagram? Below are three distinct manners in which crediting occurs or doesn't.

TYPE A: THE NONEXISTENT.

Type A is the tendency of reposting creative work without any crediting from the user.

Usually the source of the post could be traced via comments from other users, or is simply not traceable.

TYPE B: THE QUICK TAG.

Type B is tagging the members of the participants without indicating their roles in the work. In a sense, this would be similar to seeing a movie’s ending credit scene with only names listed.

This method is the most common form of crediting behavior amongst users.

TYPE C: THE FULL CREDITS.

Often seen in passion projects, Type C is tagging all participants and listing their respectful roles.

Given how tedious the crediting process can be, there is a gaping hole in the massively potential and fruitful communication that Instagram is able to provide.

SKETCHES

WIREFRAMING

KEY SCREENS

1 • The Tagging Process.

Effortlessy tag people and their roles when posting.

2 • View Attributes.

Attribute will seamlessly organize the tags.

After posting, the credits will be ready to be viewed on the side when a user taps on the Attribute Icon (top right).

3 • Attribute Requests.

The Attribute Request function  aids the user in the crediting process by allowing users to attribute a creative to an uploaded post. It is up to the uploader to accept or deny the attribute request. The option to message the attributer is also available if needed. 

4 • Find the Source, Easily.

Attribute also offers an image-scanning function widely used in image-heavy databases such as Google and Pinterest.

Although not 100% accurate, this embeddded function leads the user to profiles with original posts and statistical credibility. 

5 • Copy + Paste Attributes.

The option to copy attributes from a post is also available by pressing the ••• button. 

This function further facilitates the attribution process when users want to repost with a pre-existing attribution list.

• • • 

REFLECTION

The Attribute Instagram widget will undeniably bring up the questions such as: How can we know the true person to credit? What happens when a different user is falsely attributed as the origin of a posted creation? These are issues that are faced everyday within digital media and in the platform of creativity. It is up to the creator and the users to deface each moment in which these occur. That is why functions such as Attribute Requests are available within this widget: To create a space for the user to hear a collective voice, then judge on their own. The goal of this widget, as a whole, is not to perfect the crediting within Instagram. It is to greatly facilitate it the world where there is massive liberty, hence encourage it. The rest is up to the users.

INDIDVIDUAL PROJECT • 2019