Google’s New Logo

Google's New Logo

Andy G’s reaction to the new design introduced by Google for their logo.

I tend to hate when iconic brands decide to freshen up their logo because in all honesty, they typically don’t get it right. I’m looking at you Facebook.

They tend to go too big or they don’t do enough. This is why I was scared when Google decided it was time for a change.

A little back story. I am a Google fan boy. I typed the rough draft of this on my Google Nexus 6 into Google Docs. When my company was bought out, I was thrilled to find out that they used Google instead of Outlook exchange for their corporate infrastructure. I don’t even own a copy of Microsoft Office anymore because of Sheets and Docs. Plus, I have a Google Wallet card in my pocket.

Thus, when Google decided it was time to change their look, it frightened me.

Google is coming off a huge announcement in creating Alphabet as a parent company and now they announce that they are changing the core brand’s identity. An identity that sits on a blank white page alone.

However, when this one came about I was thrilled. It took the iconic brand, kept a generally similar font but definitely more modern, and kept the brand’s core color scheme. The best part is it created a brand that is more easily identifiable with their mobile brand icons. Google Library of Logos

 

The new branding of the logo just seems to fit with the rest of their mobile identity better than the old logo. The color has been slightly tweak to match some of their brands a little better and the logo font seems to fit with the new material design look. 


No Serif FontThey lost the older feeling serif font and went with an ultra modern sans serif font. They didn’t reinvent the wheel by keeping the brand’s core iconic color scheme. Plus, they of course went ahead and tilted the “e.”

My only real complaint with the new logo is the “G” of the favicon. When it gets down to just the “G,” the five color color scheme seems a little much. Plus, it does seem pretty similar font wise to the Groupon favicon.


Google Favicon versus GrouponDon’t get me wrong, I realize that there is only so much that can be done about a “G” favicon, but these fonts are awfully similar. Google’s is a little thicker and the overhead arc cuts off a little shorter, but the fonts are hard to ignore. 

All in all, this was a very solid redesign to an iconic logo. It is their biggest redesign in 16 years, but it still feels like Google.

Andy G for short, is a digital media designer for a local college, previously for some radio stations. If you’re wondering what a digital media designer is, he helps make the internet look pretty. When not at work, he is either at the gym or involved in generally nerdy activities.