Google has tweaked its logo a few times since its founding 16 years ago, but never so dramatically.
The company showed off a new look on its official blog Tuesday. In justifying the change, Google says it needed a new design that would work across the multitude of platforms and devices where you may encounter it.
You don’t have to look too closely to see a resemblance to the design behind Google’s new parent company, Alphabet.
Google goes into more detail on the thinking behind the logo on its Google Design blog. The logo was drafted to mesh well with the company’s design language, Material Design. And like many other company logo redesigns, it’s opted for a sans serif font (serif refers to the little "tails" added to the end of letters in various fonts, like Times New Roman).
Along with the new “Google” logo, the team also developed a “G” icon for those times when it wouldn't make sense to squeeze in the entire company name, and floating dots for those inevitable wait times you’ll encounter across different Google products.
Along with the new logo, Google designed a compact “G” and floating dots icons.
You’ll spot the changes right away if you do a Google search or use a product like Gmail or Drive. But it may take some time to get updated elsewhere, especially on all the permanent signage on the multiple Google offices worldwide.
Why this matters: Google is the latest major tech company to go through a logo rebranding, following after Microsoft, Yahoo, eBay, and others who have gone for a more colorful and friendly look. Such redesigns tend to get mixed reviews, as some long for the old look or are skeptical about the resources used in such a task. But like any change, good or bad, you’ll get used to it.
