Other Projects
Instagram Credits
What if Instagram cared about protecting digital art credits?
80 hours
January 2025
UX/UI Designer
TOOLS
Figma
FigJam
PROBLEM
Numerous digital artists face frequent theft, misuse, and miscrediting of their work online. The lack of proper accreditation devalues creative labor, causing financial loss and discouraging artists from sharing their work in otherwise supportive communities online. With minimal credit protection and the rise of AI-generated content, artists are increasingly vulnerable.
SKILLS
Feature Launch
Problem-solving
User Interviews
Flow Design & IA
Usability & A/B Testing
UX Documentation
OVERVIEW
Digital art theft remains a major issue for artists online, amplified by growing concerns about AI-generated art, as algorithms are being trained to use datasets of existing artwork without the artists’ consent. I present an original, creative idea as a feature on Instagram, the most prominent art-sharing platform online, to formulate a mock-up solution to a very real issue and use UX/UI design to inspire a vision of “what-could-be.”
GOAL
Seamlessly integrate a robust credit protection feature on Instagram to make digital artists feel supported and protected when posting their art online
SOLUTION
Meet "Instagram Credits,"
A New Feature to Safeguard Artists' Work
A set of new Instagram features designed to protect artists by properly crediting artists and restricting unauthorized use with anti-AI technology.
View Prototype
01
Apply anti-AI image effects to your image to prevent AI algorithms from using your work
Artists can choose from a variety of anti-AI image effects before posting their art. Some include transforming images into "poison" samples and slight pixel adjustments to prevent mimicry.
02
Add a Creator Tag to automatically link all your images back to your profile
Any image with a Creator Tag will be specifically coded to link to your profile in the image's metadata. If it gets reposted on any Meta platform, the Creator Tag will show in the Tag People section.
03
Lock your images from unwanted screenshots and place a custom watermark on your art
All images with Creator Tags will not allow others to screenshot the image. Instead, they can save it to their camera roll. Artists can choose to use either a default watermark or upload their own custom watermark and place it however they like.
Here's how I got there
BACKGROUND
What is at risk in the art world?
VS
AI-generated
Original creator
In a digital age, it is a common occurrence for artists to get the artwork they spent days or weeks on to get stolen or inappropriately used. Users on social media platforms, designed for rapid sharing, frequently remove watermarks or fail to give creators the recognition they deserve. Many also illegally use their art for their own profit, selling products and taking credit without the original artist's consent.
This issue not only undermines the value of their labor but also facilitates unauthorized use, impacting their livelihood and discouraging artistic innovation online. Currently, there are little to no accessible solutions for small, independent visual artists to protect themselves against the nonconsensual use of their art.
Moreover, the rise of AI-generated art is causing lots of worry within the art community as their work is now at risk of being stolen for unauthorized use in AI models, oftentimes copying their unique art styles and making profit off of it.
Image: Vicky Leta from Business Insider
RESEARCH
How can I empathize with digital artists?
To start tackling such a major complicated issue, I first need to learn more about digital artists. Some immediate points of concern include:
Research Objectives
Research Methodology
1
How and where digital artists post their work
User Interviews
2
Their general needs and pain points as digital artists
User Interviews
3
Their thoughts and experiences with art credits and theft
User Interviews
4
Their thoughts and experiences with AI-generated art
User Interviews
5
Existing tools to protect digital artists and their work
Competitive Analysis
User Interviews
This brought me to my research methodologies. I figured I could personally inquire more about the experiences and pain points of artists by interviewing them directly. To learn more about existing tools, I would also need to conduct a competitive analysis to see if there is even a need or gap in the market for this solution.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
How do other tools protect artists' rights?
Before conducting primary research with interview participants and talking to real digital artists, I needed to survey the current environment and see if other solutions for this problem exist online and how they address it.
I compared how the top three major art-sharing platforms—X (Twitter), Instagram, and Tumblr—help protect the rights of artists and track insights for the performance of their work.
View competitive analysis
Noting each other the competitor's unique talent propositions, I came to a conclusion about the market:
Existing art-sharing platforms lack efficient and accessible mechanisms for identifying art theft, safeguarding original work, and enforcing artists' copyright protections.
USER INTERVIEWS
What do artists think about art credits?
First, I defined my target users as digital artists and any individual who posts their art online as those people would be the most affected by the problem of art theft.
Next, I reached out to a range of digital artists, ranging from notable professionals with large followings to small independent artists, on Instagram and Twitter for an interview. I then conducted user interviews with four artists to understand (1) their process, (2) their pain points, (3) their thoughts and experiences with art credits and theft, and (4) their thoughts on AI-generated art.
JA
"I've had a lot of art friends who grew a large following, but they've had issues with getting their art stolen or seeing it posted on spam accounts."
"I would see her art in on some platforms, for example, on Shein, they would put the art on a tote bag or something, and just sell that tote bag that has her art on… It's so terrible how people would just take her art like that."
SU
W
"People sometimes take things and they'll edit them or use them for things that they haven't been given permission for. And oftentimes people don't think anything of it, it's more of like an etiquette thing"
SYNTHESIS
What insights can I derive from the interviews?
After hearing from the artists themselves, I found many frequent patterns in their responses. I noted my key observations of each interview on sticky notes and proceeded to organize them by their general topics. With these categories, I was able take away a number of insights about digital artists.
Moreover, I felt that there was more to note with the tone and behaviors of my interviewees beyond the transcript, so I elected to use an empathy map to better understand what they might be thinking or feeling.
I found that art communities online are generally very supportive and respectful. Respecting art credits are a complicated form of etiquette in the art community. However, almost every one of my participants have seen art stolen online frequently. Few are affected, but art theft remains a big issue that frustrates both artist and follower.
As for AI art, all artists do not like AI-generated art and find it offensive to their craft. Most are extremely concerned with what it will do to traditional and digital art. Many also admit that there is a significant lack of protection for artists’ credits in the use of AI generated art.
View synthesis assets
KEY INSIGHTS
What do I take away from the research?
Collecting and organizing the feedback from user interviews and competitive analysis, I arrived to a few conclusive key insights that I can take away from my research and input into my design process:
Big Artists Need Protection
Professional creators who make money off of their art are the ones who need their credits protected because they are the ones most likely to get their art stolen.
People Value Art & Community
Art enthusiasts online would like to see artists given appropriate accreditation because they value the work artists put into their art and the community artists give them.
People See Their Frustration
Art enthusiasts online would like to see more protections against stolen art because they often see the distress and frustration their artists go through when their art is stolen.
Issue of Etiquette
The majority of the art community finds the issue of stolen art to be an issue of respect and etiquette as opposed to a major issue that needs to be enforced.
Complicated Issue
The issue of art theft is very complicated and cannot be simplified into simple right and wrong because it depends a lot on whether users meant to steal or not, the amount of money involved, conflicts of real ownership, and the boundaries of the artists.
AI-generated Art
Artists want to identify and trivialize the use of AI generated art because they believe it devalues the human touch of traditional and digital art, which all artists cherish.
Screenshotting
People in the art community find screenshotting to be one of the biggest problem for the issue of art theft because it is one of the easiest ways for people to take art and crop out credits.
IDEATION
Defining project goals
Keeping the key insights in mind, I started ideating solutions for the presented problem. Considering user needs, business needs, and technical considerations of the product, I formulated a single project goal that would form the backbone of the product:
PROJECT GOAL
Create a functional and seamless feature launch that reassures creators that their art is credited to them and protected, encouraging art creation and business growth
Triple Venn Diagram for project goal alignment
It was also at this stage when I knew I wanted this feature on Instagram because my research showed that Instagram is the most popular art-sharing platform that artists use and also experience the most problems with art theft.
FEATURES
Ideating & prioritizing features
To define which features would best meet user needs while aligning with project constraints, I compiled a formative feature set informed by user research insights. Then, I prioritized features into an Impact-Effort Matrix to evaluate which features would deliver the most value with reasonable development effort, helping to guide a focused and strategic MVP.
Prioritized feature roadmap with integrated Impact-Effort matrix
After ideating and prioritizing the features, I selected four of the features that I would have the highest impact for users as well as be lower effort to develop:
1
Creator Tag
An image uploaded and posted to Instagram with Credits on will be specially coded to link to the Creator’s profile in the image’s metadata. This means that if the image is reposted on any Meta platform, there will be a new Creator Tag that is automatically added to the Tag People Section so Creators will have to be credited whenever their art is used.
2
Anti-AI Image Effects
Creators also have the option to turn on anti-AI effects for their uploaded image. Before posting, Creators can protect and poison their uploaded image so AI models cannot steal the art style and instead confuse it (See new anti-AI technology, Nightshade and Glade).
3
Screenshot Lock
To protect the Creator Tag, any post with Credits on cannot be screenshotted and will instead be locked. Users can instead save the image into their camera roll. This image will have a Creator-designated watermark. Creators can choose to use an Instagram-default watermark (similar to TikTok’s watermark) or upload their own custom watermark and place it on the image.
4
Custom Watermark
Creators have the option to upload a custom watermark or use a default one to add to a post. They can scale it, move it, or change the opacity to their liking. Once done, they have the option to place it anywhere on the post.
FLOWS
Connecting the dots
At this point, I knew what I wanted the feature set to look like on Instagram. Implementing a set of features placed throughout the app, I needed to ensure that the user and task flows for this project was clearly defined because seamless integration into Instagram's existing was imperative.
With the main flow being the post creation flow, I also wanted to design art protection features as it would appear for both Instagram Creators and their followers.
View flows
This meant outlining all flows for each feature:
1
Creating a Post for Creators
2
Customizing a Watermark for Creators
3
Customizing a Creator Tag for Creators
4
Reporting Copyright Infringement
5
Screenshot Lock & Downloading Image
DESIGNS
Visualizing the features
After mapping out the core user flows, I began translating these journeys into low-fidelity wireframes. At this stage, my goal was to visualize how the feature would live within the existing Instagram interface without disrupting familiar user behaviors.
I focused on clarity and usability, sketching out how I visualized the features to look when blended into familiar user flows on Instagram when designing for low-fidelity wireframes.
Creator Tag
Screenshot Lock
Create a Post: Adding a Watermark
Downloading an Image
FINAL DESIGNS
Finalizing Designs for the Feature
Implementing Instagram's existing UI and design patterns, I was able to easily integrate the features into numerous flows within the app seamlessly. All additions were minor alterations to the current app's design but would have largely beneficial effects for digital artists on the app in this feature set's goal of resolving a larger issue at hand.
TESTING
Turning feedback into functionality
To validate the usability of my high-fidelity prototype, I conducted several user tests that revealed both strengths and areas for refinement.
Overall, users found the main task flows, such as discovering and reviewing workspaces, intuitive and easy to follow. However, some confusion arose around placement of anti-AI image effects, which prompted a need for clearer onboarding and contextual explanation.
In response to this feedback, I implemented several key iterations:
Added modals to the post creation flow to clarify the location and function of anti-AI image effects
Included more visual confirmation after the watermark customization flow to reduce user confusion
Added additional screens for external links and feature explanations to reduce user confusion
Included more visual guidance towards the location of Credit Tools
REFLECTION
Designing user-first
Throughout this project, I gained some valuable lessons about designing thoughtfully for a very specific demographic and prioritizing empathy in the research process. I also learned a lot about creative sandboxing as well as efficient decision-making in the ideation process.
01
User-first design
After talking to digital artists, I saw that art theft is a deeply personal violation for artists that can impact their livelihoods and sense of agency. This made me want to design features that weren’t just functional but purposeful. It reinforced that user-first design isn’t about asking “What can we build?” but “What really matters to the people we’re building for?”
02
Empathetic Research
While interviews and transcripts were important, many of my most impactful insights came from how participants spoke with their tone of voice and body language. By creating empathy maps and observing behavior alongside dialogue, I was able to design with a much fuller picture of what artists were experiencing.
03
Decisiveness
There were moments where this problem felt too big. I could have easily ended up stuck in endless iterations. But setting clear priorities grounded in user insights helped me move forward with confidence. Knowing when to pivot, when to simplify, and when to commit was just as important as the ideas themselves.
FUTURE RELESEAES
Looking ahead beyond the MVP
While the MVP of this feature focuses on protecting the rights of digital visual artists and using very specific technologically-dependent features, I have several ideas for future releases to expand this idea and its capabilities to include additional features like post tracking analytics and protection for other forms of art.
Phase 2
Post Tracking Analytics
For Phase 2, I would add a feature that would allow users to track where their art is being reposted and shared, possibly with reverse image search tools.
Phase 3
Protection for All Arts & Crafts
For Phase 3, I would add a feature that would also protect other forms of art like traditional art and crafts that are also vulnerable to art theft online.
Wanna chat about this project?
Let's find a time to call!
