Yup, you know it.
The most relevant digital design news from the past week was the reveal of the new Instagram look. The app had been undergoing some A/B testing for a while and screenshots of this mystical, monochromatic UI (that would definitely help give your #brunch photos all the attention they might possibly need), have been all over the web and Twitter for weeks. Good news: As of last week, the new UI is officially out!
The change is welcome — if somewhat predictable for an app driven by visual content — and even in its first public iteration, it’s very good. Long gone are the blue bars and orange tooltips, instead opting for a white interface while keeping notifications and tooltips in a very pleasant shade of red. It’s all about filter-heavy hashtagged photos now, kids.
The new app icon, however, has had more of a mixed reception (including everything from praise, to absolute loathing, to gif parodies and of course, the obligatory unsolicited Dribbble redesigns). Ditching the iconic polaroid-like camera and introducing a superellipse-based glyph that may or may not echo a washing machine in its place; along with a gradient that, according to their concept video, is meant to be a nod to the colors of the rainbow, Instagram’s new look definitely stands out in many ways. Naturally, the Instagram team also brought a facelift to the rest of the apps in their suite, and oh, they look so nice together.
The consensus of our team is that we like this facelift as a whole, and it’s a great move. And as good lad Tobias van Schneider puts it in his review of the icon, honestly, no one will care about this in a couple of months. Just go and vent your opinions somewhere and do a redesign of your own. Or simply keep enjoying this product as you normally would.
OTHER-DESIGN RELEVANT NEWS
DESIGNER TAKES A BREAK FROM BEING HUMAN, LIVES AS A GOAT FOR A BIT
Thomas Thwaites came to public attention a few years back, because he built a toaster from scratch. As most of us know, sometimes being a human being is hard, and presumably, goats must have a simpler life. So why not try and live like one? Thwaites went the extra mile and became a grass connoisseur, designed an exoskeleton that would help him walk like a goat and even found himself a female goat friend thanks to his beard. We are not completely sure about what to think of this number, but we’re glad someone is out there coming up with these kinds of stunts. Such a joy.
EVENTBRITE ALSO ACQUIRES A FACELIFT
Event platform Eventbrite (which also happens to be our favorite place to keep track of our events!) also announced an extensive, well-documented redesign a few days ago. The facelift mostly focuses on the wordmark while adding new secondary colors and graphics, and even hinting at a script typeface designed by lettering extraordinaire Jessica Hische. Worth taking a look!
A SNEAK PEEK AT THE ANIMATION FOR FX’S ARCHER
Fans of FX’s great, hilarious show Archer must not miss this insider’s look at their animation process (including the use of both Toon Boom Harmony and Cinema 4D, among others), which, despite being limited, is fairly complex and detailed. Props to the team for consistently achieving awesome, hilarious results. LANAAAAAAA!
SUNSET IS IMMINENT
When it was revealed that the beloved calendar app Sunrise would be acquired by Microsoft, which would incorporate its features into the Outlook app, everybody knew Sunrise would be removed from life support sooner or later. Well. August 31 is the date. Good night, sweet prince. Still, the Outlook version of Sunrise seems pretty solid even if it only has a fraction of the original’s features; so diehard fans can opt for that. Or just use Fantastical instead.
SO, WE WENT ON THE INTERNET AND FOUND...
Find your image’s visual center - The self explanatory link of the week!
Otherworldly gifs by Carl Burton - Beautiful and haunting looped animations with the occasional hint of sci-fi influences. Also monochromatic! Burton has been illustrating Margaret Atwood’s Medium articles for a while now, as well as providing artwork for the second season of Serial.
Gboard - Search, GIFs, emojis, videos. Anything. From your iOS keyboard. As of now, however, only if you are in America. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
