As a student in the interior design field, I often find my social feeds showing me design-related posts, whether that be on Instagram, TikTok or Pinterest. I, like many others, have various saved posts as inspiration for my future designs or future home. However, with trends such as, “cottage core,” “minimalism” or “boho chic” coming and going so quickly, do we have a say in developing our own individual tastes? Or is the algorithm in our apps deciding our preferences for us after we “like” one or two posts?

When Instagram first began, posts in the main feed were shown in chronological order, before switching to an algorithmically ranked feed. Due to users complaining that they were missing posts from people they followed, Instagram recently returned to the chronological order. However, there are still some posts integrated within the main feed that are shown from the algorithm.

The more you “like” one type of post, the more the algorithm pushes those kinds of posts to your feed, whether it be cat photos, memes or fashion trends. With the original version of chronological posts, users would have to deliberately search for designers to follow or seek out specific design inspiration or solutions to whatever they were looking for.

Now, the algorithm is showing us content related to what we most recently “liked” in order to gain our attention and keep us within the app for longer. It is even to the point now that posts from users that we don’t even follow are showing up in our main feeds, just because the algorithm thinks we would like to see it. So one could argue, if I am not actively seeking out design inspiration, is the algorithm pushing posts to me and deciding my tastes for me? Or have the algorithm-ranked posts developed far enough that I am getting a curated selection of inspiration that I happen to like?

Unfortunately, I am of the belief that it is the former. If a design post does not fit nicely within a current trend, then the post is not being seen as valuable by the algorithm and is not being pushed toward any main feeds, thus taking away our ability to explore other tastes or trends and limiting what is being shown. Not only is the algorithm potentially hiding posts that do not fit into whatever is trending, it also isn’t showing posts from smaller creators or lesser known designers, limiting our exposure to the posts that are popular.

In a podcast episode titled, “Instant Gramification,” from 99% Invisible, design critic, Alexandra Lange, mentioned how hotel and restaurant interiors are being affected by Instagram due to their “Instagrammability.” If an interior space is designed in a way that makes for a nice Instagram post, reel or TikTok, then it has the potential to attract more visitors and encourages users to share their visit on social media, which in turn drives more business. Having an interior designed space that is required to focus on its ability to be turned into content instead of its overall experience and function, could lead to a badly designed, unusable space that also lacks originality.

As a result of being fed these Instagrammable, trendy posts, I think we are also putting pressure on ourselves to conform to these design trends that the algorithm is pushing. These polished or colour coordinated designs in social media are creating this idea of the “perfect” life and how a home “should” look. Implying that if your home does not look like the posts on Pinterest, that you don’t have your life together or don’t have good taste.

So how do we combat the algorithm and develop our own tastes? I think it is important for us, especially within the design community, to be critical of our sources for inspiration. Although social media is readily available at our fingertips, it may be wiser to seek out creative inspiration from books or magazines or out in nature. We can even use what is being pushed by the algorithm as a potential inspiration of what not to do, since it’s been done and replicated before. All in all, we should be more specific in our searches or just get offline and look for inspiration in the real world.