Instagram feeds we’re loving right now

Instagram has quickly grown into the social media platform that artists and creative minds are favouring. The presentation style, partnered with the creative uses the Instagram feed are being used by many artists to create new and inventive ways to showcase their work. Artists and non-artists alike have found new ways of exploring the new horizons that Instagram present and they have used the application as a medium to create and showcase visually engaging content.

So, after a quick memo around the studio, here are some of our favourite Instagram feeds right now.

The first feed we shall delve into belongs to Russian photographer Murad Osmann. Murad’s images and Instagram feed have made the national headlines for his unique photographs and presentation styles. The artist has created a trend which has swept Instagram called #followmeto and people are now trying to replicate his style. Murad has taken a camera crew along with him on shoots across India before to reveal how he creates the photographs but it is the presentation style of his profile which is most appealing to us.

The idea behind the pictures is simple enough: Murad’s wife grabs his hand and leads him off towards a spectacular travel destination.

When Murad was asked about his photos with his partner, he said: “Nataly was a bit annoyed that I was always taking pictures of everything, so she grabbed my hand and tried to pull me forward. That said it didn’t stop me from doing photos while she was pulling me. So that’s how it all started.”

Kyle Fasel from the band Real Friends has devoted his Instagram feed to being a forum where he can share his lyrics and poetry. The style he presents is done by adding his chosen words to a scenic backdrop. Sounds simple enough right? It’s all in the presentation. This sort of style can be done by anyone but Kyle styles all the quotes to blend together perfectly. There’s a grainy and faded texture to the images he uses and they all follow a similar pattern.

He only ever chooses to break away from his daily postings to focus on something of great importance to him. Otherwise, the pattern is maintained and the feed looks great.

Moving on from a creative use of lexicon to a wonderful portrayal of beverages. The Instagram account drinksintheair is simple enough but the style and consistency presented by the feed’s great to look at.

In a world that has become over saturated with travel related Instagram feeds, it is easy to get lost in the quagmire and not notice the different users. What drinksintheair have done is create a feed that is engaging on the travel aspects, but also showcases the wide selection of drinks that are available across the world. They have created a whole new take on the travel Instagram feeds by simply adding either a drink or some food to the foreground of a spectacular backdrop. You don’t always have to do something complex to stand out.

With a little more tech involved, FromwhereIdrone showcases the creative ways in which someone can use their drone. The use of drones has expanded rapidly over the past few years due to their availability becoming so widespread. Naturally, this has led to an increased rate of sky-high photographs being produced.

Although FromwhereIdrone does not possess the creative layout of others, the images that they have curated are simply stunning. Each has been taken in with a seriously high-quality camera and they are presented in a professional manner.

FromwhereIdrone has grown into a creative forum that allows any user to submit their own images that can be added to the feed. This is encouraging the highest quality images to be brought in from across the world.

We asked our design team which Instagram feeds they were currently viewing.

Our Head of Design, Daniel Moore, weighed in with these suggestions: Jessicavwalsh, stefansagmeister, subfoldr, creativereview, itsnicethat, adeevee_team and tonyfutura. All of these accounts give a new age view on modern art. Their layout is simplistic in approach but effective when viewed. You have the feeling you are in an actual art gallery viewing their work. It’s an easy way for artists to showcase their work for an audience that will always appreciate seeing it.

Instagram has transformed over the past couple of years from a site which was almost a pictorial personal blog to a surface which allows its users to showcase art, crafts, scenery and products. Users become much more accepting of Instagram’s shift into a more artistic and product orientated world, mainly due to the fact that the social network’s artistic integrity has been more or less upheld, despite a raft of updates since it was acquired by Facebook.

Our Designer, Zach Rowlandson, has contributed the pages Love.watts, which he describes as being ‘a good source of inspiration with lots of varied, weird and wonderful work which always sparks and idea’ and also Jetset_experimental, which he says is ‘one of my favourite design studios which contain a lot of idea sparking work and despite a lot of it being unconventional it’s still great to look at’.

But it’s not just art and products that have been making an impact on Instagram. The food and catering industry have started making major movements on Instagram. Despite being more prominent on Twitter and Facebook, Instagram is quickly becoming a place for food and drinks brands to showcase what they have to offer.

Simon Cooke, our Account Manager, suggested the pages eatmcr, alabamas_mcr and westcornernq. All of these pages are used to display restaurant menus and products. The image quality and creative ideas behind them latch onto Instagram’s unique presentation style and favourable shift towards a more creative direction.

Almost every major chain restaurant and independent store have now found their place on Instagram and the feeds are showing this. Content is produced on a daily basis covering the entire palette of world cuisines available. Despite the heavyweights maintaining a strong following (Nandos, TGI Friday’s etc) it’s the up and coming brands that are leading the way creatively.

Take a closer look at westcornernq; the animation style is effective and makes the food/drinks stand out on someone’s timeline. Their approach veers towards a simplistic message: “This is what we serve, this is how great it looks, these are the people enjoying it, why are you not here?”

It works as well. There’s no doubt you see people posting their food on a daily basis saying how good it is and how amazing it looks, now restaurants are doing the same, but with an increased level of creative thinking behind them.

Instagram is also used as a means of telling a story for people to read. A prime example of this comes from our Designer Jordan Hall who suggested the Humansofny page. The premise behind the page is showcasing the people who live in New York and allows them to tell everyone a little bit about themselves, ‘one story at a time’.

The page has been such a success that the owner has successfully written a series of best-selling books about it. Jordan also suggested the page historicalpix, which depicts moments from history that may have been forgotten or had gone unnoticed via images and a short description.

This set-up and design where a story is told via an Instagram post have become popular over the past couple of years. You only have to take a look at the amount if literature that is being produced due to this to realise how effective this method of presentation is. People will take the time out of their day to read the stories that are being written.

Personally, some of my favoured Instagram pages are artbasel, which is a modern and contemporary art showcase via Instagram, classicfootballshirts, which showcase original and retro football shirts from around the world and thegoalfather, who creates prints and artwork based on the best and most classic football goals scored. The prints for the goalfather have become so successful that they have attracted the attention of top football magazines and are being marketed as sellable prints.

Classicfootballshirts have built their own business via Instagram and now make a lot of money due to their Instagram’s mix of product based posts and general football imagery.

Another page I enjoy scrolling through quite often is ruthredtattoo, who is a tattoo artist based in Leeds. She has developed a large following on Instagram by posting her customer’s tattoos on her personal page. Doing this has two very positive reasons behind it. One: she showcases her work to a wide audience and two: her customers have their own tattoos shared to a much wider audience. She has seen her audience almost triple over the past year thanks to her Instagram page and has been invited across the country to appear at tattoo and piercing events.

Instagram has grown rapidly since its birth just six years ago. It is no longer simply a place to post pictures and add a fancy looking filter to them. It has become a platform for business, art and personal stories to flourish and expand.

Start-up companies are seeing their brands grow thanks to the audience on Instagram and people are even getting their work published as a result. Here’s to another six years if amazing content.