National Trust – Capability Brown role-playing game (play it here)

Last week, the National Trust quietly released a smart little ‘game’ on Instagram, based on the life of Capability Brown.

I was naturally excited. I love the work that the National Trust does (such as the video below) to celebrate the revered landscape gardener, with 2016 being the 300th anniversary of his birth.

The concept of the Instagram game is to put you in Lancelot Brown’s shoes (Capability was a sobriquet).

Each post is a multiple choice question, enabled by tagging other accounts (created just for this game) on which subsequent questions are hosted.

Clicking on an option takes you either to the next question, or to a gameover-style account that then allows you to return home (and start again if you wish).

It’s probably easiest to understand by playing the game.

capability brown instagram game

capability brown instagram game

So far, the game has proved popular, with 70+ comments on the first post, compared to the average 10 or so comments.

Shares are currently pretty average, but this quiz format represents a relatively low-cost piece of engaging content (no doubt with some PR to boot).

I am a particular fan of The National Trust’s Twitter account, but it is also doing great things here on Instagram.

The social tone is always artfully pitched, focusing on family fun, sustainability, heritage and so on.

Read more on the National Trust:

Navabi – The Navabi Collection

The grid view Instagram layout is perfect for creating a visual impact when people visit your profile.

This is a well known tactic, but an effective one when done right, such as the nine posts shown below by Navabi.

Of course, as soon as more posts appear, the effect is diminished, but yet again this a low-cost and simple way to make an impact, making these posts more than the sum or their parts.

IKEA Russia – Instagram ‘website’

Easily the most famous example of hacking Instagram’s UX.

IKEA uses the clever grid view, too, with the profile view acting as a homepage and posts as category pages.

Clicking into a post reveals an interior, with each product tagged up allowing people to click through to see the ‘product pages’ (reposted from other accounts).

The whole thing is a simple hierarchy of accounts that is similar to the more recent National Trust quiz example.

Instagram ‘homepage’

instagram ikea

Instagram ‘category page’

instagram ikea

Instagram ‘product page’

ikea instagram

Read more about IKEA creative: