Rebuilding attribution in the creator ecosystem
Designed a system to make creative contributions visible, attributable, and scalable across Instagram.
Role
Product Designer
Scope
Platform-level attribution system
across mobile and web interfaces.
work
Balanced creator incentives with
consumer friction through iterative
prototyping.
outcome
Rolled out across global ecosystems,
establishing a new standard for
professional credit.
The Challenge of Visibility
Behind every viral post are stylist, photographers, and collaborators whose work went uncredited
Attribution relied on captions and comments, inconsistent, socially fragile, and invisible to Instagram’s systems.
Trust and incentives are eroded without reliable attribution
Contributors lose visibility and opportunity.
Creators have no consistent way to credit collaborators.
The platform cannot recognize or reward contribution.
EASY TO APPLY
Quickly add with a click of a
button within the posting flow
CONSISTENT ACROSS PLATFORMS
Maintain control of your brand, by your profile category being applied
VISIBLE ACROS THE PLATFORM
Give credit direction in photos, videos or reels posts
Interface Study
Mobile Experience Deep Dive
01
Making attribution a
first-class system
Attribution moved from inconsistent captions to a structured, visible system across posts.
02
Designing structured credit flow
Attribution became part of the creation process rather than something added after publishing.
03
Embedding attribution into the ecosytstem
Attribution influenced visibility, discovery, and creator recognition across the platform.
Crediting has to be embedded directly into creation
Search
For collaborators or inspriation
attach
Credit during post creation
surface
Attribution directly within posts
Outcome & Impact
Creators responded positively by more consistently recognizing inspiration and collaboration in their posts.
The launch established foundational infrastructure for future creator ecosystem works.
Reflection
Platform trust is shaped by product systems
Creator ecosystems depend on recognition, not just distribution.
This project reinforced that product systems can influence participation by turning informal behaviors into scalable infrastructure.
