Meta Illustrator Reveals 40 Threads Logo Designs That Came Up Short

Image via Adam Mosseri

Threads, the text-based app from Instagram, just celebrated its first birthday! To mark the occasion, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri and Meta illustrator Jez Burrows decided to take us behind the scenes, showcasing a collection of 40 logos that could have been.

The rejected designs offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative process, ranging from sleek and minimalist to delightfully abstract. Some represented individual loose threads, while others tipped their hats to the iconic Instagram camera logo. There was even one playful contender with a :] face.

The final version—designed by Burrows, Ryan O’Rourke, and others—is a stylized @ symbol, a familiar internet icon that has come to denote a user’s identity. The logo interprets the @ as an unbroken line, inspired by the loop that forms when a thread begins. This idea of continuity and connection is at the heart of the Threads brand.

Instagram Sans, Instagram’s bespoke typeface created by Colophon Foundry, was used to set the branding. The font’s clean lines and modern aesthetic complement the logo’s sleek and continuous form.

“So many great ones in there,” remarks one impressed user.

Another comments, “We should have 12 app icons. One per month.”

Interestingly, Threads was almost named ‘Epigram’, a choice that divided opinions within the team, Mosseri admitted last year. The original name, ‘Textagram’, never meant to go public, still has a few in-house fans who find it hard to let go.

[via Jez Burrows, Adam Mosseri, Creative Bloq, images via various sources]