#InstagramRedesign: why we can’t shake it like a polaroid picture
A major corporate rebranding is always met with mixed reviews, but what is it that makes people respond so viscerally?
Last week, Instagram revealed its new icon. Reviews have ranged from “insignificant,” to “Instagram gradient is hella stock.” And those are the less vicious remarks. Let’s face it, whenever a beloved brand goes through a redesign, there’s going to be a fair amount of backlash. People hate change. They get over it in about two days, but the initial shock is overwhelming. I would say that about 80% of the extreme negative feedback is a resistance to change, but what is the other 20% about?
The mark on its own is not bad. It’s certainly better in terms of functionality than the original. And, if you saw the challenges and endless iterations the new icon went through, you’d be more likely to go, “Oh, ok. I get it now.” But that’s not what everyone’s looking at. It’s the first blush. What inspired Debbie Millman’s comment that the new logo, “has now been relegated to the over-gradiated soul-less heap of recent designs?”
A few things come to mind.
Distinctiveness
While we see the connection to the original logo, the mark is drawing comparisons to other app icons and stock gradients from Photoshop and Powerpoint. The over simplification of the camera is recalling washing machines, microwaves, and sushi. If this were a new brand — or lesser known brand — the icon on its own could be a source of confusion. Luckily, that’s not the case.
Character
While I admit that the old Instagram logo wasn’t very functional, it did have a few great things going for it. The Polaroid camera was the antithesis of modern technology. Its presence was almost humorous in the landscape of app icons because of its anachronistic qualities. But that’s also what made it so great and memorable. For those of us who actually remember using Polaroids, it was a fun smack in the face of technology. A connection to a simpler time. For those too young to remember, it’s a quirky image with vintage flair.
By reducing that camera down to the least lines possible, you remove all those wonderful little references to our lives before technology. On a personal note, I used to see Instagram as the most relaxing of all social media outlets because it focused on images over dialogue. They made it easy to avoid the anger and political commentary prevalent on other social sites.
The vintage style Polaroid icon was a nice set-up for that experience. Then again, now that Facebook owns Instagram and the platform has evolved, it might make sense that the nod to the past is just that — in the past.
Humanity
According to Instagram’s Head of Design, Ian Spalter,
“The evolution of the community has been inspiring, and we hope that we’ve captured some of the life, creativity, and optimism people bring to Instagram every day.”
The colors used in the gradient — whether they’re stock or not — are certainly energetic and optimistic feeling. It’s the creativity and life-like qualities that seem to be lacking. There’s nothing inherently “human” about this mark. If Instagram is relying on the color palette to be the warmth of the mark, it does nothing for the black and white glyph iteration. And that’s the version that is predominantly used in the app itself and on millions of websites around the world.
All in all, it’s a good mark for readability, functionality, and recognition. The world is familiar enough with Instagram for it not to be held back by any shortcomings. However, when it comes to the specific challenge that inspired the redesign, “Honor Instagram’s identity while reflecting its growth,” it seems that there was more of the latter and less of the former.
I doubt this will be the kind of redesign that becomes corporate urban legend—the kind that keeps CEOs from taking the plunge. People will likely forget all about it in a few weeks, and the original mark will go the way of the Polaroid itself — a wistful part of our history.
