Snapchat, formed in 2011, is a social media platform used to share photos and messages among friends. Snapchat was formed with communication between friends and new ways of expression in mind. The gimmick of disappearing pictures was a new step no one had done up until now. With this in mind, Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy set off to create the app now known as Snapchat.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel stated that snapchat’s focus in its early stages was solely on software engineering. He gathered many talented coders and engineers to build the app. After the first few stages of development, interaction designers entered the scene. Designers ChiaYi Lin and Michael Murray were hired in January and August of 2013. Both worked on how users interacted with the interface and why the app should work around its unique feature of picture taking.
This original patent of Snapchat looks fairly similar to the current iteration of the app. In the middle of the taskbar is the camera feature. It being in the middle of screen makes users identify that it is the main area you should be using. The main feature of the app is forcefully given to the user. When booting up the app, the first page you land on is the camera. This small quality of life feature is extremely important. Forcing the user to enter the camera makes them inclined to utilize it. Over the years, many coworkers on the UX UI design team brought up that there should be new features to keep the app fresh and new. Eventually, small features such as SnapMap and SnapSubscriptions were implemented. The biggest constraint of adding new features to the app was making sure that the primary feature was not diminished. To get around this issue, the new features were hidden under gestures such as swiping up on the camera screen to access the SnapMap.
Unlike other competitors like Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat does not have a website version of their service. The only way to access Snapchat is through their app available for IOS and Android. What makes Snapchat a recipe for success is them never pivoting into a new direction. They have been sticking with the idea of disappearing pictures as a form of communication for the years. Snapchat is a strong example of how technology evolves the interaction between humans and tech.
I think is cool that you point out the experience of using Snapchat, “What makes Snapchat a recipe for success is them never pivoting into a new direction.” That is also what I like about Snapchat, even now, I will open it, snap a picture, and send it to my friend. Is easy to use and less distracting compare to other apps.
Very good insights on what makes Snapchat so successful. I think it is so cool how much snapchat has evolved with adding the AI filters and all the different things you can layer over your photos. It is very simple yet very effective.
Thank you for letting me know that Snapchat actually had a map function at the beginning. Those characters seem to be used all the time.
I like your observation of snapchat. Snapchat is indeed very unique among all the social medias.