What is up with Google’s New Logos?
I have been seen the image above several times while browsing design blogs and social media sites. Just last month, Google came out with its rebranding of G-Suite to Google Workspace which included a redesign of the Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, and Meet logos. The new five logos follow the flat design trend and are outlines of the original shapes in Google’s four colors — red, blue, green, and yellow.
The reason for this update was a response to the Covid-19 pandemic’s influx of remote work and a need for more collaborative tools. The intention behind Google Workspace’s new brand identity was to create a brand that represents a more connected, helpful, and flexible experience.
The new logos however have sparked outrage across design communities and social media sites. People have indicated the icons look too similar to each other, only differentiating in shape, and appear to be little blobs that are difficult to tell apart. Normally icons are meant to be distinguishable at a glance, but one has to look closely while sifting through these icons to find the right one, thus lessening the user’s experience.
The icons seem to completely ignore accessibility as well, which seems unusual for a company like Google. These icons would be almost unusable for a colorblind person
There appear to be a few inconsistencies in the designs as well. For one, all of them except the Gmail icon have red corners. The Gmail icon has a darker red in it and along with the calendar has thinner lines than the rest of the icons. Whether these decisions are intentional or not, is unknown.
Luckily, there is now an extension for those who want to get the old design back. For those looking to revert the icons to the old ones, they can be found here.
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