Google’s new logos are bad – Devin Coldewey

I actually saw this image from a post on LinkedIn and thought the discussion about Google’s new logos was really interesting, especially getting to hear from a variety of different graphic designers. I definitely noticed the change in the Gmail logo a few weeks ago but could not describe why something about it seemed off until I read this article from Devin Coldewey.

Coldewey breaks down how these icons go wrong in three general ways: color, shape and brand. With color, he talks about how the solid colors from the previous logos make the apps like Gmail, Calendar and Meet distinguishable but now, from far away it is pretty hard to tell which app is which. In regards to shape, he talks about how the new negative space/transparency/hollowness of the new logos make them easily affected by the background color and “basically just angular O’s”, which again makes then hard to distinguish from each other. For brand, Coldewey discusses how the individual apps no longer feel special and instead, “this is just one finger on the hand of an internet giant. And now you can never see one without thinking of the other.”

I really enjoyed this analysis of the new logos and learning more about the design choices that are effective and not effective as I continue to work on my animated poster. Read the full article here!