InSTAGRAM’S NEW APP, EDITS
At Instagram, I led UX content strategy for Edits, a new standalone video editing app designed to empower social media creators with powerful AI tools, advanced editing capabilities, and detailed insights.
From product naming and UI content to App Store content and accessibility, I helped shape every touchpoint of the user experience. This cross-functional work spanned product, design, engineering, marketing, and creator research and resulted in a successful go-to-market launch with 8 million downloads on day one and the #1 in the iOS App Store on launch day.
I used the following content strategy principles to inform my work.
Crafty & Detailed — reflecting Instagram’s brand personality for the creator audience in end-to-end copy.
Playful & Experimental — embracing experimentation and competitive audits to create a premiere creative toolkit.
Innovative & Transformative — introducing tools like Restyle, which leverages MetaAI’s capabilities to create exciting options for creators.
App Store + GTM Content Strategy
I started working on Edits during the peak of its early hype phase to support a strategic, high-impact launch. With the public announcement accelerated to align with a key market moment (TikTok temporarily going dark in January), my focus was on driving awareness and pre-downloads ahead of the global release on April 22.
I led the content strategy for App Store screenshots and previews, collaborating with product and go-to-market teams to identify what motivates creators to download a new tool. The final assets highlighted Edits’ standout features, including:
Stickies, a note-taking and annotation tool for saving creative ideas
A dedicated Ideas tab for organizing saved content and inspiration
High-quality footage and export options, based on direct creator feedback
No watermark on exported videos, enabling seamless cross-platform sharing
Writing clear content helped position Edits as a premiere, creator-first editing tool.
Edits app content strategy
I partnered closely with product design and engineering to shape two key new features in Edits:
The Ideas tab, where users can view all saved content—including Stickies and reels from Instagram to support organized, cross-platform creativity.
The Inspiration feed, a personalized space to view, save, and recreate trending Reels, audio, and content from similar creators.
Challenge:
How can we maintain Instagram’s brand voice while positioning Edits as a distinct, premiere video editing experience and replace competitors as the go-to tool?
Solutions Considered:
Brand Voice Explorations: Instagram vs. Edits brand
Intuitive Branding: Personal notifications, App Store Release notes
Insights Used:
Workshops with top creators helped clarify brand voice: clear and conversational but comfortable with advanced editing software tools and terms.
First Impressions Matter:
Clear user education on Edits as an Instagram-powered app and consistent brand voice.
Clear data and AI policies.
Onboarding Strategy:
Empty state messaging and in-context education to introduce Ideas tab, Projects tab, and Stickies feature.
Streamlined Flow + Information Architecture
As seen with Captions, menus + more options get introduced at each step — let’s only show the essentials.
With limited real estate for long copy, every header is an opportunity to provide context. This is consistent with video creation language: “Generate from” provides a a context clue to differentiate captioning from text or voiceovers. Similarly, “Choose where to share” confirms to creators that exporting ≠ posting.
I also led the naming strategy for thousands of creative assets—including Restyle presets (using MetaAI) sound effects, voice effects, video effects, transitions, filters, and caption styles. Then, I grouped them into clear, intuitive categories in the app.
GTM Strategy: Release Notes + Notifications:
User Persona / Educated Creator: Identified key features during GTM meetings for release notes & creator notifications.
Documentation Tools: CMS tool for the iOS App Store, documented new terminology with Acrolinx, and completed all accessibility annotations.
Edits EARLY FEEDBACK & RECAP
Creating content for Instagram’s newest app was a full-circle moment for me. I wasn’t just designing content for an abstract user, I was designing for people like me: social media creators who care about their voice, who want intuitive tools, and who thrive when the technology supports their flow.
My Instagram creator experience brought empathy, insight, and intention to every screen I touched, from naming effects to shaping how creators save ideas, get inspired, and edit with ease to share their passions and connect. We received some very positive team feedback during private sessions with Instagram’s top creators and learned that Edits is embraced in their new creator workflow.
My team presented Edits at Config 2025, one of the largest UX design conferences hosted by Figma, and most recently showcased Edits at VidCon, hosting 250+ of Instagram’s top creators. Edits debuted at #1 on the iOS App Store on the first day with 8M downloads.
I’m incredibly proud to have helped build something that honors and empowers creativity.