Year of the Tiger: Instagram adds new stickers to celebrate Chinese New Year

As the world celebrated Chinese New Year on February 1, 2022, marking the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, the enormity of the occasion was also marked by tech giants.

While Google, in its characteristic fashion, introduced a new doodle to mark the Year of the Tiger, Instagram had other ideas and introduced a slew of new stickers and features to celebrate the occasion.

To capture the theme of the Year of the Tiger, Instagram teamed up with Ophelia Pang, who is a 3D illustrator, artist, and co-founder of a CGI company in Hong Kong.

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Pang designed three stickers to mark the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, which can be accessed from Instagram Stories. To use the stickers, tap on the emoji icon in the Stories page, and the stickers will show up under the Featured section.

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The decision to get Pang on board, it is understood, is part of Instagram’s larger efforts to give creators more visibility on its platform. Indeed, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri confirmed the same, saying, “When it comes to celebrating cultural moments, we want to be a platform where creators showcase their work.”

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Instagram also said they added a #MyLNY2022 augmented reality (AR) effect that can be accessed by searching for it. The option to search or browse effects show up at the end of the effects carousel on Instagram Stories. Additionally, there are a host of other effects to mark the Year of the Tiger that can be found on Instagram merely by searching.

Last year, too, Instagram had introduced similar features, including new stickers to mark the Year of the Ox. The three stickers to mark the occasion were also created by an independent creator, Naomi Otsu from New York, who specialises in graphic design and illustrations.