Layout, Instagram’s Own Photo Collage App Has Been Launched
Instagram has recently launched a new application separate from their core offering called Layout. It’s a standalone creation tool outside of their very own photo-sharing application. With this latest app, Instagram users now have a tool where that helps them create collages out of photos on their mobile device. They can then share the created collage to Instagram, Facebook and others.
The creation of collages has been a popular activity in Instagram for quite some time. Users have often made use of collage-making apps such as Pic Collage, InstaCollage and PhotoGrid to present grid-like photos of their pictures.
So, what makes Instagram’s app so different from these existing ones? Since they didn’t want to make a knock off, Instagram came up with an app that actually improved upon the experience of creating a collage.
For example, while most apps show users a series of empty grids, the first thing you see on Layout is the view of the Camera Roll. This highlights the more important need for choosing which pictures to present before laying them all out.
Once photos have been chosen, Layout then offers the user a preview of custom layouts that can be used to present the images. Up to nine images can be used on Layout and the photo grid options update each time a new photo is added.
When the adding of images is done, the user just scrolls through the options presented and chooses the best one to showcase on their social networks.
Layout also has some interesting features such as:
- Faces – filters Camera Roll to show photos with pictures of people. Instagram found that 90% of photos on their service feature faces which is why they implemented this feature.
- Photo Booth – for capturing spontaneous moments.
- Grid Options – pan, pinch and zoom photos for better presentation, as well as resize photos within a particular grid.
Layout has been released for the iOS platform with an Android version coming really soon.
