Nobody likes change, and the tech community in particular seems to be especially averse to any sweeping or even minor changes made to software that they love.
So when Instagram yesterday released a completely redesigned iPhone app, alongside a brand new app icon, the blogosphere revolted in immediate disgust. While most people seem to have positive things to say about the actual app update, Instagram’s new app icon has generated no shortage of negative and, at times, hilarious feedback.
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Now don’t worry, we’re going to heed Dave Pell’s advice and will gladly refrain from writing some extravagant “think-piece on Instagram’s new logo.” Instead, we’re going to have a little bit of fun and highlight some of the more amusing and vitriolic reactions to the new icon we’ve seen over the past 24 hours. Sure, the design change is arguably a step backwards from the original, but come on, most everyone spends more time inside Instagram than they do fixated on the icon itself.
So without further ado, we present some of the more noteworthy takes on Instagram’s new icon.
We’ll start things off strong with what may very well be the very best take we’ve seen on Instagram’s new icon. Hell, this might be the best analysis we’ve seen on any new icon design. Ever.
No hate on the new #instagram logo, but this is kinda funny…. pic.twitter.com/8tj9iphDQf
— Stylow (@IamSTYLOW) May 11, 2016
Game. Set. Match.
It’s hard, nay, impossible to top that, so be warned that it’s all downhill from here.
Moving along, design critic Eli Schiff didn’t mince words, calling the new design “an abomination.”
https://twitter.com/eli_schiff/status/730401295115292672
Adding more detail to his negative reaction, Schiff subsequently added that “there is no logic, it’s just color vomit.”
Adweek also wasn’t on board with the design change, calling it a “travesty.”
Unfortunately, while it may render better in some environments, it’s a very forgettable image that will get lost on people’s phones amid the thousands of other similarly uninspired designs of most tech apps. It’s a bit baffling how this is considered an improvement—indeed, why they felt there was a need to “modernize” at all.
And some other opinions from around the web.
https://twitter.com/MattTurner4L/status/730489367383429121
https://twitter.com/StaggerEdits/status/730577855193743361
Am I the only one who thinks Instagram's new logo is ugly as sin? Looks like Jon Ive threw up and Facebook scooped it out of the toilet bowl
— Brian (@Lafond66) May 11, 2016
tbh as ugly as the new colourful instagram icon is the old one was so iOS4 looking so it was about time
— Cat (@catroseobrien) May 12, 2016
https://twitter.com/mofumofucos/status/730581075852828672
https://twitter.com/kokikoakayo/status/730572390430728194
I hate when I have to call in sick because @instagram changed their cute icon to an ugly one and nothing in my world makes sense now.
— Julia Gulia 🌈 (@JRobb773) May 12, 2016
Is it just me or does @instagram's new logo look like they designed it with Microsoft WordArt in 2003? #retro
— Sandra™️ (@sandraiscool09) May 12, 2016
https://twitter.com/carlyaquilino/status/730563920373649409
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/730400484901654528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/chrstntrr/status/730397882105405440
https://twitter.com/zara_mann/status/730586324470616064
