Journalism of Courage
Instagram new wordmark: What changed after 10 Years?
The makeover is limited to the word ‘Instagram’ that appears above the app’s familiar logo. The pink-and-orange gradient camera icon, introduced in 2016, remains the same.
The updated wordmark retains Instagram’s familiar script-inspired style, but the individual letters have been redrawn.
Instagram has given its wordmark a makeover, marking the first change to the design in nearly a decade. The update was announced on Thursday by Instagram head Adam Mosseri on both Instagram and Threads, where he called the new version “sharper and more modern” while keeping a connection to the platform’s original look.
The updated wordmark retains Instagram’s familiar script-inspired style, but the individual letters have been redrawn. Mosseri explained that the wordmark had remained unchanged for 10 years, making a refresh overdue. “The wordmark at the top of the app hasn’t changed in 10 years, so it was time for a refresh,” he wrote in a post on the platform.
The change is limited to the word “Instagram” that appears above the app’s familiar logo. The pink-and-orange gradient camera icon, introduced in 2016, remains the same. That 2016 redesign had marked Instagram’s shift from its old brown camera logo with a rainbow stripe to the colourful gradient icon users know today.
Check out Instagram’s new wordmark:
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While the update may seem minor, it quickly caught users’ attention online. Some welcomed the cleaner look, but others were puzzled by the redesigned “r”, with several saying the wordmark now appears to read “Instagzam”.
“Instagzam. That r is not joined, weird they didn’t use a regular r,” one user wrote.
Instagzam
That r is not joined, weird they didn’t use a regular r https://t.co/D4PbZmui78
— Dan Rowden (@dr) August 13, 2026
Another commented, “Is this because cursive writing is now a lost recipe?” Some users went even further, dismissing the redesign as “AI slop”.
The jokes soon spread beyond individual users, with other brands joining in on the trend. ChatGPT posted its own take using the same style, but changed the name to “Chatjipiti.”
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Indian food delivery platform Swiggy’s quick-commerce arm Instamart also joined the fun. It shared a version of the wordmark spelling out “Instamart” in the same style, accompanied by the caption, “if you know you know.”
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