With all the attention to the newly debuted Instagram Reels from Facebook and the hilarious, bizarre world of TikTok, here’s a first impression on the two platforms and how they compare from a designer’s perspective.
Disclaimer: I’m no longer a teenager, which probably places me out of the target audience for this type of app. The concept of mindless scroll feeds filled with short looping videos make me feel ancient (as I can still remember Vine’s untimely death) and behind on the times. Nevertheless, I wanted to document my first impressions trying their respective experiences.
Let’s see how they compare:
As video editing is a challenge even on computer where there’s a lot more space, both TikTok and Instagram probably could find ways to make it easier to edit videos easily swipes/taps on mobile.
Here’s some things that work well:
^These were all things that made it easier for me as a new user to create a post in a short amount of time on Reels.
The name of the product also made more sense in relation to how it works — I don’t understand what the term “TikTok” is meant to convey but a “Reel” sounds similar to a movie reel or a compilation of clips.
#design #review #tik-tok #ux #instagram