Following Facebook’s subtle logo redesign last week, it has now launched a new friends and groups icons – with the female silhouette adopting a much more prominent position.

Previously, the female was placed slightly in the background but now she is placed alongside the male on the friends illustration and is featured in the foreground with two males behind her in the groups icon.

Caitlin Winner, design manager at Facebook, noticed the imbalance in the previous artwork and even spotted a ‘chip on the female’s shoulder’ or a strange dent in her silhouette. She has amended this to include two robust, matching shoulders and given her hair a re-shape, removing the ‘helmet hair’ she had before. The male icon has also had a new haircut and redefined shoulders, bringing him up to date with today’s modern man.

She said: “As a woman, educated at a woman’s college it was not hard to read into the symbolism of the current icon; the woman was not in a position to lean in…” –  ‘Lean In’ being the best-selling book by Facebook CEO, Sheryl Sandberg, focused on encouraging women to pursue their ambitions, and a favourite read of the JAMpr team.

From what we can gather, the new icon is only displayed on mobile devices, not on desktop formats as yet, but a full, global roll out is planned.

As experts in social media management and digital PR, we love to keep abreast of all the latest digital and technology news. It’s great that Facebook is embracing social trends and becoming more aware of gender issues – hopefully the tech world in general will follow suit very soon!