Google Unveils New Logo: Reasons For The Change

Google is certainly a progressive company. For as long as most people have known about it, it has constantly been tweaking its algorithms to improve its search engine or bringing exciting new services to web users. It has not, however, been known for making major design changes. 1999 was the last time it made a major change to its logo, in fact. Since then, the logo has remained more or less the same, although it underwent a slight transformation in 2010, when it was remade to look a bit flatter and simpler. It remained that way until today.

Google’s brand new logo is rather polarizing. Some say it is beautiful in its simplicity – it is sans serif, unlike the old logos, and it is completely two dimensional rather than drawn to look three dimensional. Others say it is overly basic and off-putting. The Verge points out that reactions to the logo go from positive to negative very quickly.”So far, reactions have been all over the place, ranging from joy to disgust, often from the same person within the span of minutes.”

https://twitter.com/genanntlars/status/638740332306415616

https://twitter.com/genanntlars/status/638742076566466560

In a long post the Google Design team released to the public, they discuss the precise reasons for the change.

“Our new logotype is set in a custom, geometric sans-serif typeface and maintains the multi-colored playfulness and rotated ‘e’ of our previous mark—a reminder that we’ll always be a bit unconventional,” Google’s page tells readers.

“The Google logo type benefits from white space between letterforms, but when colors are adjacent—as in the case of the Google G—they optically blend and can result in a darkening and dimming of the original value. We adjusted and pushed the vibrancy of the red, green, and yellow to maintain saturation and pop.”

The Google typeface is not the only design change that was made today, though. The “G” that serves as Google Mobile’s logo was changed from a solid blue letter to a “G” composed of the typeface’s four colors. The colors of the dots dancing on the screen whenever Google is “working” were also changed to the typeface colors.

The Google Design team wrote briefly about the reason for the changes to the logo.

They said they wanted “a scalable mark that could convey the feeling of the full logotype in constrained spaces,” “the incorporation of dynamic, intelligent motion that responded to users at all stages of an interaction,” “a systematic approach to branding in our products to provide consistency in people’s daily encounters with Google,” and “a refinement of what makes us Googley, combining the best of the brand our users know and love with thoughtful consideration for how their needs are changing.”

What do you think about the new changes to the Google logo? Are you excited for a new face for Google? Leave your comments below.

[Image via Google Design Team]