Networked Media Week 10 – Changing designs

How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

The video this week was again filmed on my iPhone 11 however in comparison to my prior video, I opted to use my front-facing camera for this video. Due to my inability to author my photo this week on Instagram, I placed an individual constraint on myself; that being I had to use the app for my video creation. As explained in last week’s blog post, Instagram makes it hard for a video to be created seamlessly due to the user having to hold the record button down. Therefore, my video is more of a stop-start clip and because of this reminds me of the stop motion videos I created with animations in primary school.

With the video being created on Instagram, unlike my photo which had a close-up view of the ship, the video was a wide shot and had the background included. Whilst this is not something I would usually include, I had to work around Instagram’s constraints as I had forced myself to investigate the experience of video creation through the platform. Unfortunately, because of deciding to use my front-facing camera, the ship is also pointing in a different direction to the previous photo. However, because I needed to see the video I was recording while authoring, there was no way around it.

I discovered through this exploration that the process was a lot longer as every time I made a mistake or didn’t like the video, I would have to delete it and completely start again. Furthermore, because of these difficulties, it highlights the possibility that Instagram focuses more attention on photo content rather than video content. However, one affordance that authoring the video in the application allowed for was the square format automatically being applied from the beginning stages which meant that I didn’t have to crop the video later. To match with my previous video post and ensure I carry on the theme and aesthetic of my content, I again applied the filter of ‘Inkwell’ at 100% to my video before publishing.

Due to Normans quoting that “good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible” (Norman 2008, p.1) I wanted to explore the possibilities the design of the ship afforded its users. This ship was something that we were gifted by a family friend and is made from some driftwood on our local beach. With the different designs we can create because of the multiple blocks, we are able to have a choice and say in what is on display, therefore fitting our needs.

How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Publishing for this video was relatively simple since I had authored it through the platform. Whilst it took multiple tries to get the video I wanted, I eventually on the fifth attempt achieved what I wanted. For the grid cover photo, I forgot to choose a still shot however the one displayed on my profile shows audiences that the video is an extension of the photo and therefore I am confident that it will still have a positive impact.

Like my photo post from this week, I included the broad location of Australia onto my video to see if my reach would be larger compared to last week’s video. However, I am unsure if it worked as well as I originally believed as it has gained the same amount of views that my previous video did.

Once more for the caption of my video I included a quote from a designer. The caption was “Ideas are the basic building blocks of the universe” – Khalid Massod. I chose this specific quote as I believe it aptly fit the design of the ship and the moving blocks and therefore enhanced the good design that was on display.

How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?

With this week’s video, the hashtags that I included were ‘#gooddesign #design #art #ideas #blackandwhite #donaldnorman #video #building #manmade’. These captions as Leaver explains are a means of ‘sharing and communicating significant social experiences’ (Leaver & Highfield 2018). They help convey the story that is being portrayed and portray details that are not being said necessarily.

From Instagram, I shared the content to Twitter and Tumblr yet again. As someone who is constantly time poor, I am very appreciative of the affordance that Instagram gifts us users with the simple and easy function to share our content across multiple platforms in the click of a button. However, there is some changes that need to be made to make the process better. Whilst Tumblr and Instagram allow for the sharing of the original content, I am still confused as to why Twitter and Instagram do not also encompass this feature as it makes the distribution much stronger and seamless and I believe this needs to change with the new update.

References:

  • Leaver, Tama, et al. Instagram : Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=6027966.
  • Norman, D, 2008, The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Book, New York.

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