News

Noon & ADIO To Build Huge Fulfillment Center In Abu Dhabi

The new facility at Khalifa Economic Zones, Abu Dhabi, will be the largest in the region when it opens in 2024.

Published

4 years ago

November 11, 2022

Nour Nasir

Noon

The COVID-19 pandemic massively accelerated the growth of online shopping in the UAE, with the market expected to be worth $9.2 billion by 2026. As eCommerce sales look set to double in volume, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and Dubai-based online marketplace Noon are teaming up to build the UAE’s biggest fulfillment center.

The 252,000 square meter mega facility will be sited in Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Economic Zones, and ADIO is offering Noon monetary and non-monetary incentives to open the massive new warehouse.

“Noon’s partnerships with ADIO and KEZAD Group are significant in scale and impact, creating thousands of jobs and new opportunities for the private sector to plug into an e-commerce platform and the emirate’s innovation ecosystem. Leveraging Noon’s cutting-edge logistics, innovation, and technology expertise, the mega fulfillment center will reinforce Abu Dhabi’s emerging strength in e-commerce and logistics while boosting adjacent industries like transportation and warehousing,” says Abdulla Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi, acting director general at ADIO.

According to the latest press announcement, the new fulfillment center will allow rapid product delivery across the UAE marketplace, using the latest robotic and AI-based automation techniques for sorting, transfer, and storage. The high-tech facility will still need plenty of human workers, with more than 6,000 new staff positions expected to be created, including entry-level packing jobs up to managerial executives.

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“As a local technology company, it is our duty to innovate, invent, and provide the optimal infrastructure for a digital-first future. The new hub in the UAE will accelerate not only Noon’s growth but also eCommerce in our region. We are proud to collaborate with UAE industry leaders such as ADIO and KEZAD to provide our people and nation with the world-class tools necessary for success,” says Mohamed Alabbar, Founder of Noon.

With Noon’s expanded operations in Abu Dhabi, the emirate’s eCommerce sector is receiving a significant infrastructure boost. Business owners, startups, and SMEs will all be able to take advantage of the Noon platform, using its extensive distribution networks to reach new clients and provide an enhanced service for existing users.

News

Instagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”

Instagram’s first wordmark refresh in a decade arrives with new fonts, a restrained gradient — and a Reddit verdict of sidegrade.

Published

4 days ago

August 14, 2026

Nour Nasir

Instagram

Although Instagram’s famous camera icon hasn’t changed, the company has refreshed the handwritten wordmark at the top of its app. This is the first redesign we’ve seen in ten years, and one the internet promptly set about renaming.

“The wordmark at the top of the app hasn’t changed in 10 years, so it was time for a refresh,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a post on August 13, describing the new version as “cleaner and more modern” while keeping references to the original design.

Instagram says its team explored hundreds of options — all-caps lettering, camera-inspired concepts, even literal handwriting — before returning to script. “Script reflects individuality, so referencing that felt right,” Instagram director of product design Jasmine Probst said in Meta’s announcement. “The new wordmark is bolder and simpler, with touches of unexpectedness. It cues individual expression, a personal voice, both of which have always been core to Instagram”.

The wordmark is part of a broader brand overhaul: an updated Instagram Sans typeface, two new fonts — the hand-drawn Instagram Pen and Instagram Mono — plus refreshed motion and layouts, and more restrained use of the signature gradient. The wordmark is rolling out globally now, with the rest arriving throughout 2026 and beyond.

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The design mixes cursive and print lettering, some characters connected and others floating free. That hybrid approach, combined with unusually shaped “s” and “r” characters, led some users to conclude the logo actually reads “Instagzam”. On the r/logodesign subreddit, one user said the wordmark looked “fan-made,” like something built in Canva; another called it “an unsettling mix of manuscript and cursive”; a third summarized it as a “sidegrade” — or, inevitably, a “zidegrade”.

Not everyone was hostile to the new look. Some found the half-cursive design stylish and surprisingly readable, while others called it an improvement on its predecessor, and one commenter argued Instagram was simply adopting minimalist branding later than everyone else. Either way, the platform now has a refreshed identity, three updated fonts, and an unofficial new pronunciation.