Instagram has refreshed the wordmark displayed on the prime of its app, changing the script-style lettering it has used for the previous decade with a brand new design that blends cursive parts with a cleaner typeface.
The change was introduced on Thursday by Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who stated the earlier wordmark had been in place for 10 years and was due for an replace. He described the brand new design as “cleaner and extra trendy”, whereas retaining references to Instagram’s earlier visible id.
The replace applies solely to the written Instagram title. The acquainted pink, orange and purple gradient digital camera icon used for the app stays unchanged.
The redesign has already prompted combined reactions on-line. Some customers have welcomed the more energizing look, whereas others have questioned the readability of among the new letterforms. Specifically, the form of the “r” has led to jokes that the wordmark seems to learn “Instagzam”.
The brand new lettering additionally brings again among the flowing curves related to Instagram’s authentic branding. The “s”, “r” and “g” have extra pronounced curves than they did within the earlier wordmark, giving the title a barely extra handwritten look.
The change marks a comparatively small adjustment to Instagram’s id in contrast with its final main visible overhaul. In 2016, the corporate changed its authentic brown digital camera illustration, full with a rainbow stripe, with the gradient digital camera icon that’s nonetheless used immediately.
This time, Instagram has opted for a way more restricted change. There isn’t a alteration to the app icon, and the corporate has not introduced a wider rebranding of the platform.
The excellence is vital as a result of the wordmark and the brand serve totally different functions. A wordmark is the typographic remedy of a model’s title, whereas a emblem can refer extra broadly to a visible image or mark related to it. In Instagram’s case, the gradient digital camera stays the first visible image, whereas the newly styled “Instagram” lettering is the wordmark.
The redesign seems meant to provide the model a extra up to date look with out disrupting the visible id that customers have develop into accustomed to. On the similar time, bringing again parts of the older script model provides the brand new lettering a connection to Instagram’s previous.
