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Instagram's DM (direct message) has been updated. We checked the changes one by one and looked at how they changed from a design perspective.
You can edit sent messages for up to 15 minutes. It took quite a long time, so it became easier to edit incorrect messages instead of deleting them. Messages that have been modified will be marked as 'Modified'. I think it will be very useful as it is a feature that is widely used in services that are commonly used, such as KakaoTalk or Slack.
You can pin chats to the top of your inbox. It is displayed as a circle like a story, and recent messages are displayed in the shape of a speech bubble. Swipe left on the existing message list and select 'Pin' to pin it to the top.
Save space and quickly access up to four chats using a fixed vertical height and horizontal scrolling pattern. The circular profile is used for the ‘Stories’ feature on Instagram, which can be confusing, but recent conversations are displayed so you don’t get confused.
'Read receipts' make it easy for people to know that your message has been read. You can turn on 'read receipts' for all chats or for specific chats. There are times when the other person reads the message and does not reply, so you check 'read', and now you can ask 'Did the other person read it?' Just wait for the notification without worrying about the steps. I think the number of times users use the app will naturally increase.
This is a good feature from the perspective of receiving an answer, but it may feel burdensome from the perspective of the reader. If so, you can turn off ‘Show message confirmation’ in settings. If you turn this setting off, others won't know whether you've read their messages.
Additionally, you can save your favorite stickers and display them at the top of the list. When replying, you can use stickers, GIFs, videos, photos, and voices. You can also change the chat theme. The background image, speech bubble background color, and action button color change.
Instagram uses extremely minimal visual techniques. Use desaturated colors, icons consisting of only lines, and fonts of similar sizes. It's really simple from an aesthetic point of view.
In this update, I also thought about using patterns to a minimum. The pattern of displaying content that needs to be viewed by scrolling horizontally at the top, which can be learned from the Instagram home page, is a UX that there is nothing for users to learn. As expected, Instagram seems to be synonymous with simple products that focus on content.
However, from a usability perspective, it feels different from KakaoTalk. KakaoTalk has almost all the features that cannot be done as a messaging app, such as message handling functions, group chat, chat room decoration, and interaction using emoticons. I once again think that KakaoTalk is amazing.
Every Tuesday morning, a designer with 16 years of experience curated Collect design trends.
