We can’t get enough of Instagram. The popular photo-sharing app allows us to show the behind the scenes side of the often intangible design process. The storytelling aspect of Instagram gives an insider peak to our unconventional office space. Through retro camera filters and custom blur tools, Instagram has helped Doejo-ers capture all the raw, humorous and enjoyable aspects of our seemingly unreal office.
Whether at work or play, sharing on Instagram helps spark internal conversation, allowing us to get feedback on projects as they are in progress. We also use Instagram to celebrate work milestones, making it an important branch of social media for our brand and identity.
Below we explain why we love Instagram, why it works for us and how it affects our office culture — while showing off some of the most memorable photos taken at Doejo Headquarters. Here is an in-depth look at the tools, techniques and toys that inspire us to innovate daily.
Liz, Art Director. Username: ElizabethGilmore
I love Instagram because it allows people to capture those fleeting moments in life. With the accessibility of an iPhone you can quickly snap a moment, a second, a smirk or a laugh. It gives us the ability to really document our lives and tell a story. Instagram is so successful because it is simple. It is extremely intuitive, limiting your options so it takes minimal clicks to get the photo you want. It really becomes more about composition, exposure and an eye—what photography should be about.
I like to Instagram in the office because it is a simple way to capture how cool the office is, how much fun we have and share it with people that are probably sitting in a cubicle staring at spreadsheets all day. We love what we do at Doejo not because it is just work but because it is our lives.
Kelsey, Social Media Manager. Username: Kelseysaurus
I love Instagram because it’s the one social media tool that really enables creativity, giving people the opportunity to frame their world visually with the tool they use a million times a day—their phone.
The natural lighting at Doejo is perfect. It’s a really inspiring space with lots of quirky, fun things to share. There’s a pretty unique office culture here that lends itself to some very photographable moments! For so many companies, the only things you can learn about them are on their website. I think social media is a huge part of Doejo because sharing is genuinely important to a lot of the team here. Instagram gives people a peek into the day to day of a place that makes things—I love seeing the feeds from different team members as they work on projects.
Phil, Co-Founder & CEO. Username: PhilCoExtra
A picture is worth a thousand words. As a veteran mobile photo blogger I have been using images to chronicle my life for many years. Instagram allows us to say so much so fast by sharing the images in real time. With Instagram we can easily embrace life blogging via photos and syndicate the information to all of our networks. It keeps the momentum with a simple image based execution.
Richelle, Design Intern. Username: TheSubsitutePeople
I love Instagram because it’s an easy way to record your life from your point of view. It’s less invasive than a lot of other forms of social media—what is exposed about my life is my choice.
Instagram shows off the Doejo office culture: we do things differently and are always trying to think outside the box. It shows that an office doesn’t need to be filled with cubicles where people don’t have any relationship with their coworkers. There is a lot of character at Doejo and Instagram allows me to capture that. I like giving a snippet into the world I live in and all the cool stuff we do in the office.
John, Copywriter. Username: JohnLendman
The user interface of Instagram is so clean and simple. I like being able to have a small square to “express myself,” that challenge is all part of the fun. I love taking random photos of things I see and commenting on the crazy things my friends stumble upon.
We have such a non-office office. We’re not corporate drones or cubical bound. We know how to have a good time. There’s inspiring art, toys and gizmos all over the place and I love hearing my friends say we have an unreal office space. I also think it’s good for our brand to demonstrate our unorthodox office culture. And what I’ve learned about working in the tech/startup community, where it’s easy to feel strapped to your keyboard staring at code all day, is it helps to step back every once in a while and shoot someone with a Nerf gun or take a load off at the ping pong table.
Kristina, Designer. Username: KZmaic
I love Instagram because I like seeing what people are up to. I was never very active on Facebook: I don’t care to hear people’s thoughts or concerns but I like seeing their photos and what they’re doing.
Instagram shows the rawness of our office culture. It doesn’t rely on us telling you what we’re doing, it shows you we’re in meetings, we have a chef, we have fun and work hard without blowing smoke up anyone’s ass about it. I Instagram in the office because Doejo is cool and I think it’s great to have others see what we’re up to. I’m no photographer by any means, and just like documenting my life.
Rinat, Software Engineer. Username: JohnBl4ck
Instagram is ideal medium for sharing my experiences and is an everyday source of fun for me. I really think that the devil is in the details and I try to appreciate all the small things around us. I have a lot of friends overseas and it is the best for checking on what’s going on in their lives and showing them what’s up in mine.
Right now our office culture surrounding Instagram is like a race: everybody’s trying to snap it and post it first. Whenever something exciting is happening at the headquarters, you can be sure it’ll be on Instagram in a second.
Rachel, Designer: Username: PlacentaHat
I love Instagram because it is easy, fun and makes me feel like a good photographer. I love seeing what other people are doing. We work in a pretty relaxed environment so it’s not odd for me to upload in the office and capture a funny memory of the day. Using Instagram makes sense with our lax workspace full of tech-savvy people. It’s a quick fun way to show off what we do personally.
Official Doejo Instagram: DoejoHQ
Want more Instagram? check out this Instagram concept camera that art director Liz, shared with the office last week and Instafeed, a simple web interface for Instagram created by two of Doejo’s very own: developer Dan and designer Masha.