Instagram seems to be continuing to test its controversial new design. Most recently, Instagram will be testing photos with a higher ratio to match Reels.
This trial was announced directly by the Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri in the Ask Me Anything session on Instagram Stories. Mosseri said Instagram will be testing extra tall photos with a 9:16 ratio in the next week or so.
"One of the things we hope to test in a week or two is support for 9:16 photos," Mosseri said in response to one of the questions, as quoted from The Verge, Sunday (7/8/2022).
"Because you can upload tall videos, but you can't upload tall photos on Instagram, so we thought maybe we should make sure we treat both of them the same."
This trial will be Instagram's latest move to make its platform look fuller and more focused on vertical content like TikTok. Currently, some Instagram features that support the 9:16 ratio are Stories and Reels.
If you want to upload vertical photos, Instagram currently limits its support to a 4:5 ratio. By introducing a higher 9:16 ratio, Instagram users can now display photos that fill the screen vertically.
But some photographers have criticized Instagram's test of forcing all photos to fit into a 9:16 ratio. The reason is, this new feed adds a gradient overlay with a darker color at the bottom of the photo so that the caption text can be read more easily, but it actually conflicts with the appearance of the original photo.
During the process of testing Instagram's new design, Mosseri admitted several times that a fuller screen was not the right medium for photos. Instagram's internal data even shows that many users are not happy with this new design which makes them start leaving the Meta-owned platform.
In addition to the new design that introduces a fuller TikTok-style screen, Instagram will also feature more recommended content in users' feeds. These two new features seem to have been heavily criticized by users as Instagram announced it would delay their trials.