The concept of Instagramism was coined by the media scholar Lev Manovich to describe the distinctive visual culture of the photo-sharing social app Instagram. In his words, Instagramism is the visual style of designed photos posted on Instagram, which are linked to the new global digital youth class that has its origin around 2010. The vision and visual expression of this young generation was greatly influenced by Kinfolk magazine, launched in 2011, whose aesthetic was adopted and further popularized by the image-sharing social networking site Instagram.
In his 2016 book Instagram and the Contemporary Image, Manovich describes a particular media form that combines lens image capture and design techniques. The author and his research team used big data to examine more than 15 million Instagram photos taken in 58 cities in 31 countries over five years (2010–2015). By analyzing these, he identified three main types of images on Instagram: casual, professional, and designed. Casual photographs are often imperfectly composed and executed, in keeping with 20th century “home mode” photography, but they can capture the moment. Professional photographs are carefully composed works that follow the classic rules of photography. Instagram’s distinctive visual culture is best exemplified by designed photography, characterized by a clean, minimalist style and poetic vision. In the author’s interpretation, this poetic vision enables the visual self-definition and self-representation of the younger, globalized generations, and expresses the users’ desire to slow down, to capture and live the moment.
