In June 2022, I led a small team comprised of myself with two individuals to create the Instagram Highlight Cover Icons for Kingston Brass' Instagram Page. These individuals have no formal training in design and the designs were created using Canva. We had a 1 month deadline and executed this within three brief meetings. We communicated during the project using Skype and Basecamp if necessary. Intentionally, I did not assign myself design work to learn how to delegate, trust, and lead with intention/vision.
At the time these were implemented, the follower count was 12.7k and a month later it is now 12.9k. I do not doubt correlation between follower count and the creation of these designs.
My vision for this project:
A strength of Kingston is its large amount of consumer generated content. From the beginning, I envisioned to utilize lifestyle images that were provided to Kingston for legal use in all marketing settings including social media. By evaluating competitor Instagram profiles we determined that icons would be an effective design for Kingston's highlight icon covers. I also believed that using Kingston's green/white color and the circle motif repeated in Kingston's profile picture logo and Instagrams photo icons would create harmonious unity with the highlight icon covers.
This project had already begun when I was brought in to lead to completion. Member A had created a comprehensive worksheet referencing the content within each highlight for thirteen of Kingston Brass' competitor's Instagrams.
In our first meeting we brainstormed ideas for Kingston's Instagram profile highlights and we also brainstormed which icons would be most effective in communicating the content. We decided upon six that we believed promoted the brand accurately and professionally while also connecting to the Instagram community in content. The work was delegated between the team so that Member A made highlight content and Member B became responsible for designing. Visual and team direction were assigned to me.
Above photo states my direction for Member A to compile already-posted stories that can be repurposed for each highlight. This was to create more robust highlight content for each by the time the cover icons were completed. Member B was directed to begin searching for relevant + cohesive icons and edit them on Canva if needed.
Member B quickly found and created icons. Many icons needed some visual tailoring in spacing and line thickness. I gave feedback on adjustments that Member B successfully executed. An unexpected learning curve that was met was the sizing of these designs; they were being created as a square when the highlight icon covers utilized an Instagram story is 1920 x 1080. I explained the accurate sizing and Member B modified the designs to this need.
Screenshot of initial iterations Member B designed for the "Blogs" highlight icon cover.
Initial Basecamp feedback for the "This or That" and "Blogs" highlight icon covers with a focus on the icons.
This is a screenshot of the final icons on Basecamp.
After the icons were created the other elements of the highlight icon covers were explained in Basecamp. I created a sample visual of the intended design for the covers to be used on Kingston's Instagram. Member B created one rough to review.
Member A compiled new notes on Kingston's positive reviews and comments from IG, Google, Amazon, and the Better Business Bureau to add to the new highlight "Reviews" that was later changed to "Testimonials." After the second meeting, I created a template on Canva for Member A to use in order to begin posting these testimonials.
In our second meeting we reviewed the roughs and posts created then defined next steps for each team member. Member A had been assigned to continue posting IG stories by including testimonials. Member B's next steps were to add the background to each icon using multiple photos from one social media influencer.
Member B designed a few iterations with different background images, but was having difficulty placing the background image as it was obstructing the focus from the icon. At this time, I was able to go into Canva for the first time and learn the interface in order to aide Member B with the layout composition.
Screenshot feedback on when I worked on one of the highlight icon cover layouts to assist Member B with the composition of the background image and icon.
Member B and I worked together to create the rest of the highlight icon covers. They were completed and posted onto Instagram before the third meeting.
At the third/last meeting, we presented the final highlight icon covers and viewed them together in-use. "Faucets" was then added as a highlight. The same process of finding the most effective icon, adjusting it, and then adding the background to it was completed by Member B and I after the meeting.
Here are the final highlight icon covers that are now being used on Kingston Brass' Instagram profile:
This is the mobile version of Kingston Brass' Instagram page. I directed my team to create the icon covers for the featured highlights: Moodboard, This or That, Testimonials, Faucets, and Blogs.
This is the desktop version of Kingston Brass' Instagram page. I directed my team to create the icon covers for the featured highlights: Moodboard, This or That, Testimonials, Faucets, and Blogs.
