Ian Spalter, one of a few Black executives in tech, may have stepped down as Instagram’s head of design, but he’s not leaving the company.
Spalter, who will be replaced by Facebook head of design Luke Wood, will be moving to Japan to lead Instagram’s new office there.
“Spalter shaped the look and feel of one of the world’s most influential social media platforms and oversaw its design team at a time of tremendous growth,” Fast Company reported.
Prior to Instagram, Spalter had stints at YouTube, Foursquare, and R/GA. In 2015 he joined Instagram, and spearheaded a design revamp for the app “from a more realistic Polaroid camera lookalike to the abstracted, colorful emblem it is today, and the introduction of Instagram Stories in 2016, which continues to drive the app’s growth,” Fast Company reported.
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He is also the creator behind Instagram’s colorful logo, even though it received some major backlash.
“The logo makeover, when revealed, attracted a lot of crass comments from fans. Some also called it the biggest design fail. The logo wasn’t the only thing that changed in 2016. The app’s interface also went through some major design tweaks. A stark white background, black font, and red notifications were the other design updates, which according to Instagram, ‘puts
The app’s design, however, has been part of the reason it’s pulling younger users away from Facebook.
Spalter has often spoken out about the importance of diversity in the design industry. Last year, during a Fast Company Innovation Festival, Spalter talk about how he was able to use his position to convince Instagram not to ship an AR experience that could be been offensive to Black people.
