After abandoning its old shopping cart app icon in favor of a cardboard box with blue ribbon earlier this year, Amazon revisited the new design for another small adjustment – and less of Adolf Hitler’s perceived vibe.
The new icon changes the appearance of the ribbon above the Amazon smile logo – which some thought looked a bit like the German dictator’s mustache – and changed from an uneven edge to a folded appearance.
The Verge reported that the design change was made after “customer feedback” and before the worldwide launch of the new icon. An Amazon spokesman told the website that the company “is always exploring new ways to delight our customers. We designed the new icon to arouse expectation, enthusiasm and joy when customers begin their shopping journey on their phones, just as they do when they see our boxes at their door. “
Icon designs and settings on them are a delicate subject, perhaps because users spend all day looking for and handling them on smartphones and tablets, and large and small changes can hinder the speed and familiarity of such actions.
When Instagram changed its icon from a lovely Brownie-style camera in 2016 to its simple and current outline of a boxed camera, users complained that they were unable to find the app amid a sea of other icons. Five years later, even with that dreaded new icon, Instagram has about 1 billion monthly active users.
“Your thumbs are stuck to the Instagram button, or your fingers are stuck to clicking and placing orders on Amazon,” Jesse Reed, a partner at the design office Order, told The Washington Post on Tuesday. “It’s so intertwined that we now have emotional connections with brands and when they change, it’s like changing a part of your life.”
My parents use Amazon almost every day. They will be lost in the next few days. When they ask where Amazon went, I’ll tell them to look for the cardboard Hitler… https://t.co/u1YcJUBNSN
– Sam Hutchings (@Smutchings) January 26, 2021
All I can see now, when I look at the new Amazon app, is Avatar Aang. pic.twitter.com/VAvAPhYWma
– Alicia (@fempute) February 28, 2021