In case you hadn't noticed, there's a new Instagram logo in town, and a lot of people don't think much of it. The camera icon isn't going anyway, but the wordmark that appears at the top of the app's UI has been updated to something that's been described (by myself, but I'm sure someone agrees) as being both more bland and less legible.
The new Instagram logo feels colder, more digital and less connected; the opposite of what the platform wants. It's also amusing to see people now calling the app 'Instagzam', which sounds like it could be an energy drink.
Logo redesigns are undertaken for various reasons, from fixing scalability issues to reflecting a brand's evolution or changing goals, or to target a new demographic. Instagram head Adam Mosseri's rationale for the social media platform's new wordmark is that it was "time for a refresh" simply because the existing design had been around for 10 years.
That raised eyebrows among other brands, including some who have been using the same wordmark for decades. From KitKat, McDonald's and Wendy's to newer brands like mobile phone maker Oppo and design platform Canva, community managers have been having a ball posting images of what it might look like their employers decided it was time for an update.
Some people are digging Instagram's refresh, others never forgave Meta for the last Instagram rebrand ten years ago. It feels to me like Instagram wants to look to hip again and recover the cool of what it used to be, but that's going to take a lot more than a new logo design.
