[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?

[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...

[untilHellbanned]

Brutally true.

[gjolund]

I definitely agree that their designers and engineers needed some busy work.

I wonder if they are actually ab testing this stuff or just rolling it out because "community".

[jonesetc]

I have complained about the instagram logo for years, but now I'm eating that. This icon is meaningless and will stick out like even more of a sore thumb.

[bhandziuk]

What was your issue with the old logo?

[jonesetc]

1. I never liked skeuomorphic icons, so I'm biased. I'm not a flat fanatic, but it definitely goes way past the sensible middle ground for me.

2. It's just so out of place with everything else on my phone (android). It gets my attention every time I open the app drawer, and I mean that in a bad way.

[tannerc]

You can learn more about the reasoning and process behind the new design here: https://medium.com/@ianspalter/designing-a-new-look-for-inst...