I personally think that Instagram’s new* branding and Logo design is far to up itself to really represent Instagram as a brand – the logo wasn’t broken – so why try and fix it. Perhaps the branding overall did need refreshing but we are talking about a brand and its logo.
In my opinion Instagram should have kept their original logo and worked on the ‘presence’ of the brand and vintage styling that they were originally going for.
Whats next?
The next thing for Instagram will be working out which direction they are going in, the brand itself now seems washed out and undefined. The brand is ‘vintage’ and was supposedly committed to creating a feeling of ‘old school’, ‘vintage’ real film for real cameras for its users whilst at the same time giving them high end tech. However what they are now presenting is not nearly ‘vintage’ wrapped in ‘modern’ over designed iconography. I believe that they will change the logo again within the next year – as part of an evolving brand system. From the outside this looks like part of a PR stunt to build the brand up not only in presence but also to start the process of a wider brand concept. Graphic Design will need to step up a gear in order to keep up with the ever changing worldwide brands that essentially direct tech evolution.
Below is some links I found whilst reviewing the Instagram Logo that might be of interest to you if you feel the way I feel about this hideous mistake made by one of the biggest social media brands of our lifetime:
http://www.creativebloq.com/logos/designers-react-new-instagram-logo-51620317
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/11/11656252/instagram-redesigns-icon-app
Author: Charlotte Rotheram @thisisitchypalm / LinkedIn