• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, June 12, 2015

Following its acquisition of Instagram in 2012, Facebook has for the most part avoided tinkering with the photo-sharing social network, but as many readers have doubtless noticed that changed this week with a major redesign of the desktop and mobile sites. The new aesthetic, which brings the sites up to date with the app, focuses on bigger pictures, displayed in a less cluttered environment, with simpler navigation and fewer visual distractions in the background.

In the new design for the Web and mobile sites, the number of photos per row is reduced from five to three, allowing a larger display for each photo. The new look gets rid of the rotating header gallery of cover images at the top of the profile page, which is being replaced with the individual’s profile hearer, and eliminates a lot of the extraneous design aspects including borders and edges around content areas. And the feed now defaults to infinite scrolling, matching the mobile app.

In keeping with the latest arbitrary design trend, the user’s own profile photo is now round too. The new design also applies to pages aggregating hashtagged photos.

Instagram’s makeover comes not long after rival Flickr underwent a comprehensive revamp, which also focused on a simpler, cleaner design, as well as new features like an Auto-Uploadr, advanced image recognition, and enhanced search functionality.

The redesign also helps Instagram keep pace with a newer competitor, VSCO Cam, which also ditched thumbnails for larger images in its profile pages and galleries.

Meanwhile there also seems to be a new trend at work here, as big online companies start to exert more control over their previously freewheeling acquisitions. Back in April, for example, The Information reported that Yahoo is moving to begin exercising more direct control over Tumblr, acquired in May 2013.