10 Hyper-Specific Instagram Accounts to Thrill Your Inner Design Nerd
Instagram accounts dedicated to the scrupulous documentation of just one subject can be like weird, virtual museums---and we love them.
Filters make it easy for anyone to post a good-looking Instagram, but some still work the format better than others. Themes help. Instagram accounts dedicated to the scrupulous documentation of just one subject—like aerial shots of the Earth's surface, or, you know, hand dryers—are like weird little virtual museums. The people behind them are more like curators than users, and often keep it consistent when it comes to framing and filters. That kind of loving attention to selection and organization lets onlookers focus on details they might otherwise overlook, like the intricate pattern of some concrete breezeblocks, or the odd beauty of an outmoded hand dryer, attached to a tiled bathroom wall. Here are ten such accounts.
- As our gadgets become more sophisticated, they also become homogenized; at this point, most people are toting around slick glass rectangles of technology, of slightly varying sizes. James Ball, an art director who works under the name [Docubyte](http://www.docubyte.co.uk/), photographs devices [from another, more complicated era](https://www.wired.com/2016/05/james-ball-guide-to-computing/). The machines in his account are mostly stored at the Science Museum in London, the Dresden Technical Collections, and the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing worked. Ball’s color-tweaked portraits show these devices, which date back to the 1950s, in an almost supernatural light.
- A book of matches is a great souvenir to take away from a memorable meal. It’s also smaller than the screen on your phone, making it an ideal subject for documenting on Instagram. [Matchbook Diaries](https://www.instagram.com/p/BDYaK0MuQPf/) posts hero shots of matchbook designs from restaurants in New York. (If enough people follow, perhaps they'll expand to other cities, as well?)
- When it comes to takeout coffee cups, the Starbucks siren and the blue Anthora cup are icons. But you won’t find them here. [Coffee Cups of the World](https://www.instagram.com/coffeecupsoftheworld/) catalogs the stellar graphics found on cups at indie cafés everywhere. These aren’t just paper cups; they’re canvases. Think Frida Kahlo stamps, psychedelic, Milton Glaser-esque swirls, and tattoo-worthy skull drawings.
- Anyone who’s looked out an airplane window knows this, but it bears repeating: the Earth’s surface is awesome. [Daily Overview](https://www.instagram.com/dailyoverview/?hl=en) is like that window, except at any given moment you could be gazing out over Center pivot irrigation fields in Saudi Arabia, or umbrellas on the beaches of the Canary Islands, or the brightly hued Bicycle Snake ramp in Copenhagen. [In Daily Overview, the scenery and the photographer changes---but the bird’s eye view stays the same](https://www.wired.com/2015/01/beautiful-troubling-photos-show-planet-astronauts-see/).
- When most people hear the term "breeze block," they think of drab rectangular cinder blocks---the kind you find stacked unceremoniously in the back of Home Depot, or that job site down the street from your office. Not Sam Marshall. [The Australian architect](http://www.marshall.net.au/about/)'s feed is filled with images of genuinely beautiful breezeblocks and their more creative applications.
- What do [panes of stained glass](https://www.instagram.com/p/BHKaDidjFXg/?taken-by=theacademynewyork&hl=en), [protesters carrying striped signs](https://www.instagram.com/p/BHKaBWbDUTQ/?taken-by=theacademynewyork&hl=en), and [air-drying laundry](https://www.instagram.com/p/BHKZ-iNDYZn/?taken-by=theacademynewyork&hl=en) have in common? In this case, it’s simple: stripes of primary colors. The Academy’s subject material is all over the place, but the New York clothing brand also posts images in cheekily themed trios. The approach has the funny side effect of creating a game-like scrolling experience for followers, where you find yourself trying to catch all three in your feed, to decipher the theme---which could be anything. The content veers towards the raunchy, vintage, and well-designed. Sculptural dome ceilings. Picasso in his studio. Humans dressed as animals. Butts. It's all fair game.
- [Hayley Eichenbaum](http://www.hayley-eichenbaum.com/) is a photographer from Los Angeles who fills her Instagram account with portraits of the American West. Specifically, lately, hotels of the American West. Seen through Eichenbaum’s camera lens, these roadside stops are more than threadbare La Quintas---they’re architectural artifacts, marinated in sunsets. Eichenbaum [admits](http://www.wired.com/2016/03/sun-drenched-photos-will-make-long-great-american-west/#slide-x) to doctoring the photos to remove visual clutter like power lines and to make the pigment more intense, but that’s fine by us---her version of Americana is startlingly gorgeous.
- Clothing labels! We all have them. But lately, less of them. Because the tiny scraps of fabric tend to itch or protrude, many clothing manufacturers now print sizing and material information directly onto fabric. As the clothing label goes flat, these older ones will become relics. From the looks of the [LABELS!](https://www.instagram.com/labeltime/?hl=en) Instagram account, that's a bit of a shame. Turns out there's some fresh and funky graphic design to be found on the insides of retro clothing.
- There are more than 170 stations in Berlin’s U-Bahn system, and [Claudio Galamini says he’s photographed each of them](https://www.instagram.com/berlin_memories/). Like the subway in New York or the tube in London, Berlin’s underground boasts an impressive variety of designs. There’s plenty of the requisite subway tiles, as well as some artistic flourishes like mosaic sunsets (at Paulsternstrasse) and some corporate chrome (Haselhorst). Some of the hues come from the city’s color-coding wayfinding system. But other wild designs are markers of pre-recession days in Berlin. Galamini’s next stop: Munich.
- Hand Dryers is a digital ode to hand dryers and their analog counterparts, paper towel dispensers. Yes, hand dryers and paper towels---the oft-overlooked boxes that decorate bathroom walls everywhere. Hand Dryers doesn’t just document the high-tech, sculptural Dyson ones either. Dingy machines covered in graffiti and stickers find their way into the account as well. One hand dryer isn’t even there---this image just shows an imprint where one once hung. “A fallen soldier,” reads the caption.
TopicsInstagram
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