
Designing a New Look for Instagram, Inspired by the Community - axg
https://medium.com/@ianspalter/designing-a-new-look-for-instagram-inspired-by-the-community-84530eb355e3
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jbob2000
Their old logo was _iconic_ (pun intended). It harkened back to the polaroid
days, probably one of the best uses of skeuomorphism. People had fun with the
old logo because it was tangible; a real camera, "I know what a camera is!".

The new logo is generic and bland, completely indistinctive. It looks like
something I would pull out of glyphicons from bootstrap or font-awesome. And
now all my previous clients with Instagram logos on their sites are going to
call me up and ask me to change it to the new one.

And the new layout... tiles? Great, you look like every other photo app ever.

What drove this change? Because to me it looks like some designers and
engineers were bored and decided a change was necessary " just because".

~~~
kobayashi
Couldn't agree more.

>But the Instagram icon and design was beginning to feel, well… not reflective
of the community

What does this even mean in Instagram's context?

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jbob2000
Instagram used to be about interesting photography, but its biggest users are
now rich assholes, bragging about their lavish lifestyles.

So maybe that's what they mean? The community used to be about photography,
but now it's shifted to vapid celebrity worship, so they needed an equally
vapid brand to match.

~~~
eunoia
It's a feed based social media app. You dictate exactly what it shows you by
who you follow. I curate my feed to be almost exclusively interesting
photography. You can too.

Edit for a little more substance: /r/photography's monthly Instagram follower
thread is a great place to find up and coming photographers to follow.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/4idumi/officia...](https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/4idumi/official_monthly_instagram_follow_thread_also/)

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sk8ingdom
I'm less concerned about the logo than the app redesign. Sure, the logo seems
to be vying for attention, but it's understandable given how connected time-
in-app is to ad revenue. I'm not expert but I think simply flattening the logo
would have better preserved brand identity.

With the app redesign, why were the messages not moved to the bottom of the
screen like all the other icons? The new layout also looks more conducive to
Facebook's "newsfeed" approach--I realize they'll no longer be showing photos
in chronological order, but that's part of what was so useful about the
application! I could hop on after being in the wilderness for a week and see
what my friends have been up to! Is it really impossible to monetize without
using an algorithm to "optimize" what to show users?

I still think the main missing feature is the ability to group the people you
follow. Why can't I have categories like "Nature", "Friends and Family",
"Furniture", "Local Artists", etc.

I'd be so happy if I could just generate a RSS feed based on a list of
usernames.

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intoverflow2
This logo screams fear of Snapchat to me.

Bold gaudyness has always been Snapchats brand touchpoint, this is what made
it feel edgy and interesting. Instagram was always a twee retro appeal
reminiscent of polaroid cameras.

This change feels completely at odds with what their brand is and looks
utterly ridiculous next to the type logo which is still written in that kitsch
font that reminds me of 50s Americana.

This is going too far too late and I wouldn't be shocked at all if within 3
months it's rebranded again.

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alex_doom
I always thought the rainbow was a nod to the One Step version of Polaroid's
SX-70. It had a little rainbow strip that came down from the lens. Now its a
gradient? Meh.

Also looks like we're going back to extreme rounded corners again? Square is
out? Heh.

On a positive note, I do like the white and grey tone of the app itself.
Cleaner and more relaxing than the blue/black tones.

~~~
bhandziuk
I think the trouble with it is that the picture headers are given the same
weight as comments. Before you could have a clear and obvious separation of
sections. Now not so much. It's just all white.

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tdkl
New icon redesign process :
[https://gfycat.com/OblongRigidGhostshrimp](https://gfycat.com/OblongRigidGhostshrimp)

Credits :
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4iv1om/instagram_r...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4iv1om/instagram_redesign_is_here/d31cvfl)

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msrpotus
I really hate the new look. Maybe I'll get used to it over time but right now
it seems make a major step backwards.

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greenspot
I just wanted to compare Instagram vs Snapchat and got this (I know Google
Trends cannot be used for popularity because of mobile apps but just to get
some vague tendency):

[https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=snapchat%2C%20instag...](https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=snapchat%2C%20instagram&cmpt=q&tz=Etc%2FGMT-2)

So, Instagram is still way bigger but we some slow down when it comes to
growth but everything is still good.

Then, I just added Facebook to the game and look what I got:

[https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=snapchat%2C%20instag...](https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=snapchat%2C%20instagram%2C%20facebook&cmpt=q&tz=Etc%2FGMT-2)

Facebook is huge but I guess it's primarily because people search for it on
desktop instead of typing the .com-domain. But what hit me more and it's OT
here: how Facebook is dropping, this doesn't look good.

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cpcallen
Oh god, what is with wretched gradients? OS X has become an angry fruit salad,
and now this. Fortunately I've never seen the appeal of Instagram, and uBlock
Origin does a great job of making sure I never see social media buttons, so
this will hopefully be the first and last time I have to look at it, but
really: WTF were they thinking?

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degenerate
This new icon honestly looks like it was made in 10 minutes by a designer on
Fiverr.

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lurker10000
[http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_icon...](http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_icon_for_instagram_done_in_house.php)

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chmullig
Well that's a mistake.

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WiLLGuys
I think that people just need some time to accept this big change. The old
logo was totally old fashion.

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hugozap
Not pleasant to look at. Not sure why

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codecamper
hmm, maybe fb wants to kill instagram?

rather than just pull the plug, they can test to see what happens when you
introduce a horrible icon. What affect does that have on usage?

