Instagzam? Instagram updates bzanding withnew cuzsive wozdmazk

“Rirruto?” Instagram has unveiled its first new wordmark in almost a decade, immediately prompting millions of users to ask the same question:

"Since when did the r become a z?"

The refreshed identity, which introduces a cleaner hybrid of cursive and print lettering, was intended to modernise the platform's branding while retaining its handwritten heritage. Instead, much of the internet has spent the past 12 hours affectionately renaming the platform Instagzam, insisting the new logo looks less like a wordmark and more like Year 4 handwriting homework.

The timing, however, may not be entirely coincidental.

As of earlier this year, 27 US states have reintroduced cursive handwriting into school curriculums, leading branding commentators to speculate Instagram may simply be getting ahead of the next generation before they inevitably become the only people capable of reading the logo.

Others believe the design team simply watched Billy Madison one too many times. "It's giving Rizzuto/Rirruto,” one user wrote, referencing the famous classroom scene where Billy confidently approaches the blackboard before producing a spectacularly unconvincing attempt at writing the word in cursive..

Typography experts have defended the redesign, explaining that the updated script intentionally blends cursive with print to create something more distinctive and expressive than a conventional wordmark.

The internet, meanwhile, has countered with what many are calling equally rigorous research. "If millions of people independently read it as Instagzam," one commenter argued, "maybe the problem isn't our reading." Leading many marketers to think back to the 2021 KIA logo update when people were googling ‘KN car’.

Brand strategists were quick to remind everyone that this is, of course, exactly what happens whenever a globally recognised brand changes anything.

If it changes nothing, people ask why they bothered.

If it changes something, people ask why they ruined it.

If it changes one letter just enough for everyone to notice... well, congratulations. You've accidentally generated a week's worth of free publicity.

Meta confirmed the platform would continue to be pronounced Instagram, although several users admitted they now found themselves whispering "Instagzam" every time they opened the app.

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