You may have seen Mackey Saturday’s work for years without knowing his name. In 2013, he created the handwritten Instagram wordmark that became a familiar part of the brand for more than a decade. His portfolio also includes Oculus and Unsplash: identities in which a handful of simple shapes must survive an enormous range of uses.
Instagram: familiar lettering, redrawn
The brief was not to make the name unrecognizable. In his case study, Saturday describes balancing a more refined drawing with the characteristics users already knew. Comparing the versions side by side revealed extensive changes, yet the result retained a familiar feeling.
This was the wordmark. It should not be confused with the camera icon or the app’s gradient. His contribution concerned the lettering, its connections and the rhythm of the name as a whole.
A version that lasted more than a decade
It would now be inaccurate to describe that lettering as Instagram’s unchanged current logo. On August 13, 2026, Instagram announced a new wordmark and its global rollout. The new work involved Instagram/Meta, Koto and MCKL.
Saturday’s design represents a significant, long-lived chapter in the brand’s history: roughly thirteen years separate its 2013 introduction and the replacement announcement. The 2022 refresh was a different milestone, introducing Instagram Sans, an updated gradient and layout principles. A brand refresh does not necessarily replace every component at once.
Oculus: designing for future applications
Saturday developed the Oculus identity with Cory Schmitz, Nic Taylor and the Oculus team. It was a collaborative project, rather than a solo commission. According to the project description, the identity needed to remain recognizable across technologies and platforms, including some that did not yet exist.
A simple enclosed shape gave the system room to develop. It could work on hardware, in software, with sub-brands and alongside partners. Minimalism here served a practical purpose, rather than being an end in itself.
Unsplash: beyond a generic camera
Unsplash presented a different problem: separated from its name, the old camera symbol was difficult to distinguish from other camera icons. Saturday developed a more abstract mark with a subtle reference to the letter U. Its construction fits inside a square, helping it remain coherent at small sizes.
Partnerships were another consideration. The identity needed a consistent appearance beside many different brands. It is a useful reminder that a logo is judged not only as an attractive image, but as part of a working system.
Early work and a recurring principle
In interviews about his career, Saturday has discussed early opportunities connected with skateboarding, including a skatepark where he volunteered. Another revealing detail sits alongside the famous Instagram project: he was working on Boosted’s logo around the same period. His career developed through parallel projects, rather than a single overnight breakthrough.
He joined Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv in 2016. Across these different identities, a recurring approach emerges: preserve a brand’s character, remove what feels incidental, and test whether the mark can hold up in everyday use beyond the presentation.
Sources: Unsplash case study, Mesh interview, CGH biography, Instagram, 2022, Koto, 2026.
Cover photo: Mackey Saturday.
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