Instagram rolled out a brand new emblem final week — which immediately drew jeers from some users. One of many high criticisms was that the cursive-style “s” within the up to date wordmark confusingly seems to be like a “z,” resulting in a flood of jokes in regards to the new “Instagzam.”
Instagram director of product design Jasmine Probst, who was one of many leaders of the redesign effort, defined to Selection the philosophy that went into the brand new emblem and why the app made the change, noting that the IG mark has not modified within the final decade.
“It’s been 10 years, and the platform has advanced enormously — it was time for a refresh,” Probst mentioned. “The brand new mark strikes us ahead whereas protecting the identical heat and familiarity folks love.”
In response to Probst, the brand new emblem is “easier and bolder” whereas “it nonetheless has a home made really feel. … Our objective was to create one thing that felt acquainted to Instagram, however sharper and extra trendy — to fulfill the group the place they’re now.”
Mentioned Probst: “It’s essential for us to embrace the long run, whereas remembering our values.”
Requested about complaints in regards to the readability of the brand new wordmark, Probst was diplomatic: “We’ve really loved seeing the response from folks and different manufacturers — whether or not it’s memes, somebody updating their wordmark to attach with ours, or consumer reactions. We’re pleased with our work right here and glad it’s out on the planet.”
Instagram went via a number of rounds to assemble exterior suggestions, Probst says, “and we very a lot take enter to coronary heart.” That mentioned, she provides, “It’s additionally essential to stability analysis with inventive conviction, and the suggestions helped us construct readability within the selections we made.”
The emotional attributes the workforce was making an attempt to impart with the brand new IG emblem, in response to Probst, have been “inventive expression, quiet confidence, the heat of one thing crafted with care.”
Probst led the redesign initiative alongside Could Hartono, Instagram’s director of name design. A small core workforce of Instagram inner designers labored on each wordmark and the model system, along with a number of core cross-functional day-to-day companions. “Our setup gave us flexibility to have completely different design groups driving completely different components of the work in parallel, whereas staying in lockstep creatively, which is fairly particular,” Probst mentioned. “Now we have a really broad span of consulted and approving companions, and our company companions as effectively.”
As for whether or not a part of the objective was to align Instagram with the sans-serif fonts of the Meta and Fb wordmarks, Probst mentioned that throughout Meta, “the wordmarks all intention to mirror each particular person apps, and work comfortably as a bigger model household. The Instagram refresh was targeted on the Instagram group, and suits effectively in live performance with the broader Meta ethos.”
Pictured above: Instagram’s earlier wordmark (left) and the brand new one introduced on Aug. 13
