BY: Jeremiah Rivera
A new update for Instagram recently debuted for both iOS and Android users. The new update brought about a new app design and a new colorful logo.
Instagram usually updates every few months but this is the second time the layout design completely changed. The new black and white layout was designed to emphasize on the photos and videos on user’s timeline. Photos and videos are the only content in color, everything else is black and white.
“The Instagram community has evolved over the past five years from a place to share filtered photos to so much more- a global community of interest sharing more than 80 million photos and videos every day,” Instagram’s official blog release stated. “Our update look reflects how vibrant and diverse your storytelling has become.”
Although Instagram’s new update came with good intentions, users were not pleased. The new design brought about funny, and occasional unpleasant memes. Instagram’s logo became iconic thanks to the hipster demographic, which was the first to popularize the app. Instagram decided it was time to switch up their logo and joined the likes of Uber and Google who also have flat design logos.
When the company started in 2010, the service was all about giving users photos a “vintage feel” via filters. In 2016 it appears that Instagram’s community has changed. Brands, visual artist, celebrities, and teenagers now lead demographic the app caters to.
The new demographic choose Instagram as their social media of choice next to Snapchat and Tumblr. The original logo and meaning of Instagram mean nothing to a generation that is accustomed to filters which defeats the point of photos having a vintage feel.
“When Instagram was founded, it was a place to easily edit and share photos,” said Instagram’s lead designer Ian Spalter. “Five years later, things have evolved. Instagram is now a diverse community of interests where people are sharing more photos and videos than ever before; using new tools like Boomerang and Layout, and connecting in new ways through Explore.
The breakdown of the internet on Instagram’s new changes is not just a freak out over the internet changing but it also the realization that the aesthetics of the web and the decision of can be considered “nostalgic” comes into play. Young adults seem to be less bothered by the icon change, and grown-ups are the most bothered according to a poll on Twitter.
Some who have participated in the internet freak out might be confronted with the powerlessness they have as social media users because it’s not like they can use another app like Instagram, it is one of a kind.
Along with updates to the design and features, Instagram is also changing the content that appears on a users feed.
“As Instagram has grown, it’s become harder for people to keep up with all the photos and videos that are shared. People currently miss on average 70 percent of their feeds,” according to Instagram’s Tumblr page. “As we announced on March 15, we’ll be introducing a new way of ordering posts in feed so you’ll see the post you care about first. This has currently been released to a portion of the global community.”
