Digital platforms within the context of design, image and user experience: The case of instagram

Digital platforms are positioned extremely effectively in individual and social life in these days. Instagram, which allows photo-video sharing and the circulation of these contents in the network environment, is one of the most widely used platforms in the world with its image centered infrastructure and thought system. Therefore, it has a structure that covers both communication and design disciplines and offers a wide range of multidisciplinary studies. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine how the intersection of design, image and user experience occurs on Instagram. How the generation defined as digital natives perceives Instagram, which needs of the users the platform meets, the opportunities, promises and limitations it offers to the users were determined as the sub-objectives of the study. However, what kind of design infrastructure and thought system Instagram has; It has been questioned how the interactive practices established by digital natives with Instagram are realized. In the study, focus group interviews were held with individuals who are Instagram users, based on the qualitative research model. Focus group interviews added perspective to the research as they both included an effort to understand the culture of a group and covered the visual. In focus group interviews, it was measured that Instagram occupies a meaningful space for digital natives, a generation that uses digital technologies effectively. During the interviews, it was observed that the participants preferred this platform because the technical and design infrastructure of Instagram allows content production, creativity, innovation, circulation in the network environment and interactive communication. However, digital natives are more active in social media, digital platforms and image-centered solutions such as Instagram compared to previous generations. These platforms have reached a symbiotic point in the ordinary life course of digital natives. Definitions of the past regarding digital platforms and social media, such as virtual world and simulation, are inadequate. The findings obtained from focus group discussions and literature studies also formed an indication that; All these technologies point to a more ambiguous and hybrid field. However, the effective power of digital platforms in the lives of digital natives also shows that they may have positive and negative reflections on young people's identity perceptions.