Adam Mosseri says Instagram profile grids will display content as rectangles instead of squares as part of a change rolling out “over the weekend”
Instagram's profile grids will display content as rectangles instead of squares as part of a change rolling out “over the weekend …
The VergeJay Peters
Context & Ripple Effects
Instagram had previously tested profile-layout changes while leaving the grid intact, making this a more consequential revision to a long-standing profile convention. The company has also shown that interface experiments can draw user pushback, as in its rollback of recent feed and recommendation changes.
Creators and businesses will see existing and future profile posts presented in rectangular tiles rather than the square framing they have designed around.
Instagram must update the profile-grid rendering experience across its app, changing how visitors scan accounts and how profile-level visual branding appears.
Second-order effects
Creators, social-media managers, and design-tool users will need to adapt thumbnail selection and grid-planning workflows to the new on-profile crop and composition.
The change reduces the consistency of square-first profile aesthetics, increasing the value of formats and layouts that remain legible when viewed as vertical rectangles.
Third-order effects
If paired with support for more native photo ratios and editable grids, profile pages could become less of a rigid chronological gallery and more of a configurable creator storefront.
The rollout also underscores a continuing product-design trade-off: format flexibility can better accommodate modern camera output, but visual-interface changes can trigger resistance from users invested in established presentation norms.
The trend: Instagram is moving from standardized, square-first identity pages toward profiles that accommodate more varied media formats and greater creator control.
nice, instagram continues to make the most ass design changes. — They've done away with their square grid for ????? And now ALL the art I set up *specifically* to post on there is cropped all fucked up
TikTok ban, Trump inauguration, Instagram switching fully to rectangular grid posts... this is the weekend from hell
@ziibiing.com Asiniiwiikwe Aka Ashley Fairbanks on bluesky
okay they made the instagram grid 4:6 or something now and everything is so ugly and if I didn't have to use it for work I would abandon that place ASAP — all these beautifully crafted grids! gone! my orgs page looks like no one knew how to design anything! 😭
I don't hate the 4:3 Instagram profile grid. But the new “Adjust Preview” option would be a lot better if you could pan and zoom as you please for each shot. It's not all that useful right now.
Crazy idea @instagram: Why not keep square grid on older posts, then have anything new post in a rectangle grid above it? Why break everyone's thumbnails? This redesign is just awful.
Unpopular opinion: I never liked the square grid on IG. I love the 4x5 update—it gives photos room to breathe. The 1x1 format always made photos feel boxed in (no pun intended). That said, I totally understand why people who built a grid aesthetic might be upset since this upd…