Instagram redesigns its wordmark for the first time in a decade
Instagram has redesigned its wordmark for the first time in a decade, swapping flowing cursive for cleaner lettering while keeping its 2016 camera icon unchanged.
LIFE
8/15/20262 min read
Instagram is giving its signature a rewrite. Ten years after its last major visual overhaul, the app has replaced its flowing cursive wordmark with cleaner lettering that lands somewhere between handwritten and sans serif. The camera icon isn't part of the edit.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri unveiled the new wordmark Thursday, noting the outgoing version had gone largely untouched for about a decade. He called the replacement "cleaner and more modern," while saying the company wanted to hold onto some of the simplicity and handcrafted feel tied to Instagram's earlier identity.
The shift shows up most in the individual letters. The old wordmark leaned hard into continuous cursive; the new one gives each character more room to stand on its own. Some connections remain, along with sweeping flourishes around letters like the "g" and "r," but the overall look moves closer to conventional typography.
The reaction
That split-the-difference approach has already given people something to pick apart. Some commenters joked the new lettering reads more like "Instagzam" than Instagram. Other reactions have leaned more positive, especially toward the simpler, less decorative look.
The camera icon, meanwhile, is untouched. The pink, orange and purple gradient symbol introduced in 2016 stays exactly as is, making this a targeted wordmark refresh rather than a full rebrand.
A more cautious update than 2016
That restraint marks a shift from Instagram's last major overhaul. The 2016 redesign scrapped the detailed, retro camera that had defined the app's early years for a simplified outline set against a bold gradient. It drew heavy criticism at first, but the icon eventually became inseparable from the brand.
The visual system has kept evolving since. A 2022 update introduced Instagram Sans, a custom typeface built for everything from marketing to in-app text, along with a brighter gradient and a more flexible visual language meant to work across static graphics, motion and different formats.
This latest change keeps enough of the familiar to stay recognizable while trimming some of the flourishes tied to an earlier era of the platform. With Instagram now spanning Reels, Stories, messaging and shopping, far beyond its start as a photo-sharing app, its visual identity has had to stretch well past the square, too.
Images: Design at Meta