Instagram has flattened out and abstracted its glyph, and the immediate media response has been less than enthusiastic. But the reasoning behind the change makes sense: to let the user’s photos/vision stand out and let the glyph be more of a frame or plinth.

Head of design at Instagram Ian Spalter says his team tried to figure out “exactly what people loved about the classic icon and how we could carry that over. Anecdotally, we knew that people loved the rainbow, and the camera lens was a key visual element. As a part of our process, we also asked people at the company to draw the Instagram icon from memory in 5 seconds. Almost all of them drew the rainbow, lens, and viewfinder.”

So the design team focused on those elements. The new design may feel like very much of a change to long-time users, who are used to seeing the friendly, goofy camera, but the real payoff for the new look comes when played out in Instagram apps Layout, Boomerang, and Hyperlapse. The suite as a whole has grown up.

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