Design on Instagram — what is working right now

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• Outlier multiples exist for 50 of 62 videos (17 of 29 creators have a cached median). The rest are ranked on raw views — no multiple is claimed for them.

Summary

Across 62 Instagram rows spanning 2023-03-15 to 2026-07-09, 8 are flagged outliers and 50 of 62 carry an outlier_score. Median duration for outlier videos is 13s versus 44s for non-outliers, a 31-second gap. The single biggest score is ferdie.dev's 84.2x on a 10-second text_overlay_only clip (405488 views vs its creator_median_views of 4816), and voiceover_broll is the volume leader at 21 of 62 rows (33.87% of the set) though its avg_outlier_score of 6.19 trails tutorial's 9.26 and text_overlay_only's 19.09.

Top outliers

1. @ferdie.dev405.5k views · 84× this creator's 4.8k median

   I'm not going to be a fool.

   10-second text_overlay_only post against a creator_median_views of 4816, an 84.2x multiple, the highest score in the set.

2. @bhavna.uix268.8k views · 65× this creator's 4.1k median

   3 figma plugins to boost your UI design

   17-second tutorial scored 65.3x over bhavna.uix's median of 4114 views, the format that also has the second-highest avg_outlier_score (9.26).

3. @bhavna.uix206.3k views · 50× this creator's 4.1k median

   3 Figma plugins to boost your UI design

   Same creator (bhavna.uix), same hook wording restated, still scored 50.1x on a 13-second voiceover_broll clip.

4. @bhavna.uix115.7k views · 28× this creator's 4.1k median

   3 sites to get modern UI design. Check them out.

   Third outlier from the same creator (bhavna.uix), 12-second runtime, 28.1x over their 4114 median, showing the numbered-list format repeats for this account specifically.

5. @zerotoui125.7k views · 19× this creator's 6.7k median

   Can Claude Learn Your Design Workflow?

   95-second talking_head, far longer than the 13s outlier median, still hit 18.7x over zerotoui's 6711 median, the account's best_views in the top_creators table.

6. @abhinavagr18068.7k views · 6.1× this creator's 11.2k median

   Now you can directly design on figma using prompts.

   64-second tutorial scored 6.1x with an engagement_rate of 0.0812, the highest engagement rate of any row in the set.

7. @imkimtang16.1k views · 5.3× this creator's 3.0k median

   Name a better feeling than opening a brand new tech product

   40-second vlog format, the only vlog row in the set, scored 5.28x over imkimtang's median of 3048 views.

8. @ferdie.dev24.9k views · 5.2× this creator's 4.8k median

   Comment "UI Design" to get these sites and check them out

   Same creator as the top outlier (ferdie.dev) reposting the comment-gate hook pattern, scored 5.16x versus the other post's 84.2x on the same account median of 4816.

9. @alfiemotion883.9k views · 4.5× this creator's 197.3k median

   Figma just entered the motion game.

   Highest raw view count in the entire set at 883947 views, though scored only 4.48x because alfiemotion's own creator_median_views is already high at 197334.

10. @adrien.ninet424.2k views

    The fastest way to create Figma designs, using AI.

    Second-highest raw views in the set at 424223, but outlier_score is null since adrien.ninet has no cached median — ranked on raw views only.

Hook patterns

Format patterns

• text_overlay_only — 25% of the outliers. Only 6 of 62 rows (9.68% of the set) but carries the highest avg_outlier_score of any format at 19.09, driven by ferdie.dev's 84.2x video.
• tutorial — 25% of the outliers. 12 of 62 rows (19.35%), avg_outlier_score 9.26, second-highest scoring format and the most repeatable given 12 instances.
• voiceover_broll — 25% of the outliers. Largest format by volume at 21 of 62 rows (33.87%) but avg_outlier_score only 6.19, so it's the reliable-volume play, not the spike play.
• talking_head — 13% of the outliers. 14 of 62 rows (22.58%), avg_outlier_score 3.87, below-median performance despite being the second-most-used format.
• other — 0% of the outliers. 8 of 62 rows (12.9%), zero outliers produced, avg_outlier_score just 1.03.

Cadence

Posting concentrates in two windows: 12:00 UTC (9 posts) and 14:00 UTC (10 posts), together accounting for 19 of 62 posts. Hours 11-15 UTC combined hold 34 of 62 posts, while overnight hours (0-7 UTC) hold only 7.

posting_hour_utc histogram: hour 12 count 9, hour 14 count 10, hours 11+12+13+14+15 = 5+9+6+10+6=36 of 62 posts.

Creators to watch

• @ferdie.dev (66.2k followers) — 2 videos cached, median 4816 views, but one hit 405488 views for an 84.2x score, the highest multiple in the set.
• @bhavna.uix (15.7k followers) — 3 videos cached, median only 4114 views, yet all 3 are in the outlier set at 65.3x, 50.1x, and 28.1x with the same recycled hook wording.
• @zerotoui (47.3k followers) — 11 videos cached, most of any creator here, median 6711 views; best video hit 125749 views (18.7x) on a Claude-workflow talking head.
• @uxui_howard.le (511.9k followers) — 5 videos cached, median 92167 views, largest median of any tracked creator, ceiling of 288667 views.
• @harshil_designer (168.4k followers) — 7 videos cached, median 42212 views, consistent tutorial output with a ceiling of 202763 views.
• @thedesignshop.tds (47.1k followers) — 5 videos cached, median only 8490 views but 4 of 5 posts score above 2x, suggesting the format is beating this creator's own baseline repeatedly.

Content angles

1. 1. Figma plugin roundup, filmed as a fast list

   Hook: 3 Figma plugins that fix the thing every designer complains about

   Format: voiceover_broll

   Based on: @bhavna.uix · @bhavna.uix

2. 2. UI inspiration sites, comment-to-unlock

   Hook: 3 sites that make your UI look 2 years ahead. Check them out.

   Format: voiceover_broll

   Based on: @bhavna.uix

3. 3. Claude/AI vs Figma workflow test

   Hook: I gave Claude the exact same design brief as Figma agent, here's what happened

   Format: talking_head

   Based on: @zerotoui · @zerotoui

4. 4. Figma prompt-to-design walkthrough

   Hook: You can now design a full screen in Figma with one prompt, here's the exact one

   Format: tutorial

   Based on: @abhinavagr180

5. 5. Site-list text overlay, no voiceover

   Hook: Comment "sites" and I'll send you the 5 I use for every project

   Format: text_overlay_only

   Based on: @ferdie.dev · @ferdie.dev

6. 6. Responsive dashboard build with Variables

   Hook: Built a responsive dashboard in Figma with Variables, dark and light mode included

   Format: tutorial

   Based on: @harshil_designer · @harshil_designer

7. 7. Short talking-head hot take on a design news item

   Hook: Figma shipped something this week and nobody's talking about it

   Format: talking_head

   Based on: @zerotoui · @zerotoui