Instagram just changed its logo in a big way

One of the most recognizable app icons of all time is no more: Instagram is making big changes to its logo.

The Facebook-owned photo-sharing service updated its iOS and Android apps Wednesday with a new, flatter design and multicolored app icon. Instagram's other apps -- Layout, Hyperlapse and Boomerang -- also have similar redesigns.

Instagram's new design swaps the Polaroid-inspired camera with rainbow accent for a brighter, more minimalist look. (Update: Of course everyone is already freaking out about this.) Layout, Hyperlapse and Boomerang get the same treatment, though those newer apps -- most of which debuted years later -- already brandished more modern design.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The reason for the big change, according Instagram's head of design Ian Spalter, was to bring the design more in line with the aesthetics of the app's users. "The Instagram logo and design was beginning to feel, well… not reflective of the community, and frankly we thought we could make it better," he writes in a post on Medium.

Logo aside, the company is also making some visual tweaks to its flagship app. The flatter black and white design we first spotted last month is officially making its way to Instagram's iOS and Android apps. 

With the new design, both apps now have a cleaner, less colorful design. All in-app text is now black and white and notification icons have been changed from orange to red. 

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Instagram says the new black-and-white look is meant to put more emphasis on users' photos and videos rather than the app itself.

"While the logo is a colorful doorway into the Instagram app, once inside the app, we believe the color should come directly from the community's photos and videos," Spalter writes. 

Additionally, the company also updated the navigational icons -- the home, search, camera, activity and profile buttons -- on both versions of its flagship app to make them feel more native to their respective platforms.

Unsurprisingly, Instagram users are having some pretty strong reactions to the new look. Some longtime users seem put off by the new colorful design while others are questioning the design choices. 

Though pushback to such a big change is almost inevitable, many believed Instagram's old design was becoming increasingly dated. A relic of iOS's skeumorphic roots, Instagram's app icon was a holdover from the early days of the App Store when Apple -- and many developers -- embraced a design philosophy that championed virtual objects looking like their real-world counterparts (remember when Apple's Books app looked like an actual bookshelf?)

Instagram's old look was becoming increasingly dated

Making this change, though, was not as straightforward as it seems, as Spalter outlines in his lengthy Medium post on the process.

Instagram's first step in the redesign -- a process the company says began late last summer -- was to try to flatten the original icon. (We spotted what may have been one of the early iterations of the new design last August, despite Instagram's assurances at the time it had no plans to change its app icon.)

But, it turns out, much more was needed than simply a flatter icon. Says Spalter: 

These early “flattening" explorations lacked the visual weight of the original. The skeumorphic style that dominated early versions of iOS has the benefit of giving icons solidity. Things felt tangible, despite being pixels.

So the team turned their attention to the app's rainbow, which became bolder and brighter, compared with the previous design, in order to convey "more warmth and energy."

Finally, the camera icon, or glyph, was redesigned until they settled on one "that still suggests a camera, but also sets the groundwork for years to come."

BONUS: Why Instagram is the #1 iPhone app of all time

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