So Instagram has gone all colorful with its rebrand. Not really a surprise, given its growing association with content diversity.
But whether you love or hate the new design, it has certainly highlighted just how sensitive the market is when something familiar becomes a little more unfamiliar.
The new look is bold, but in essence just features a simplified design of the iconic camera, placed it on a rainbow gradient background adopted from the original colors. It was designed in-house, which gives a sense that it is a personal development for the brand, and no doubt went through various testing and polls before the big launch.
However, if your business is not in a position to afford a huge test of a redesign, crowdsourcing could be the way to go to ensure you have a wide selection of ideas to pick from. At DesignCrowd, we have 500,000 designers around the world ready to submit designs to your brief, which you can then share with friends and colleagues to find the best fit.
To illustrate how much diversity you can find through crowdsourced design, we challenged our community to come up with alternative concepts for the Instagram logo.
The contest received more than 200 designs in under a week for a cost of less than $400.
The risk with sprucing up of an old favourite is it could lose its charm, alter people's affections, and worst, get them looking at alternatives.
No one is suggesting Instagram is going to suffer significantly following the facelift, but if you're business has slightly less than a 400 million strong following, you may want to be careful how you reposition yourself in the creative department.
So here are some considerations to take out of Instagram's rebrand, and more examples of the DesignCrowd's community generated logos.
1) Does your branding reflect what you do?
In the case of Instagram, although predominantly picture focused, it has grown into a wider community of varied interests and personalities.
Where-as the retro camera was the key focus of its creative core, the revamped relevance towards the rainbow colouring now, in the company's own words, "reflects how vibrant and diverse storytelling has become." But if they've decided to position themselves as a serious photography or image sharing app, then retaining their camera / photography logo is the better move.
So it is as much about staying true to the product you offer as a company as it is about understanding the audience you are trying to engage with.
2) Has perception of your brand shifted?
A shift in public perception may set off alarm bells, but it doesn't mean you should be panicked into a rebrand.
Whether your company, or the industry as a whole, has hit some tough times, you shouldn't necessarily immediately change the fundamentals. Familiarity may be the only thing people take comfort in, and you should consider nurturing the remaining relationship to ensure they come across to the new brand.
Instagram hadn't suffered any real controversy (nipple debate aside), it's just competing in a packed social media market, so it was maybe time to once again assert some authority and reiterate its relevance.
3) Your audience has changed
Although the age demographic of Instagram's community has not significantly shifted, the huge numbers engaged mean there is naturally a growth in the number of opinions and values among those people.
Although the new logo is not universally popular, it is not likely to push huge numbers of people away from the brand. You have to work with the evolution of your audience, not fight or conflict it.
The key for any business is to remain relevant and modern, whilst still providing familiarity for those who have shown faith in the brand as ot has grown.
4) Tastes and fashions fluctuate demand
As we've already said, changing on a whim is not advisable, but if you feel you have become a bit dated, it could be time to assess things.
The detail on the old Instagram logo did not fit the trend for flat, minimalist designs, and although iconic and retro, there was scope to revamp.
If you're looking to follow suit, make sure you're aware what the trends are whilst still looking to create something that will have a good shelf life. You can't switch with every trend, or rebrand every season.
5) No business reason for slow performance
If you can be confident in your business, certainly in terms of market need, delivery, and pricing, but you're still losing sales, it could be your branding that is doing you harm.
Instagram is still a huge presence on the social media scene, and probably doesn't fear losing out to opposition.
However it has reported slowdowns in engagement and growth, and therefore may have reverted to a redesign of key elements to spark interest.
A version of this article originally appeared on Kochie's Business Builders.
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Rebrands can do wonders for your business, if applied sparingly - Start here if you're wondering if a rebrand might be in order for your business:
10 Famous Sports Teams' Logos That Were Rebranded In The Past Year
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When Should You Consider A Rebrand For Your Business?
Written by Kevin Bradford on Thursday, May 19, 2016
Kevin Bradford is a content editor at DesignCrowd with a background in journalism and digital production. Experienced in both writing and videography, he loves combining his skills to create captivating content across all multimedia channels.
