new google logo introduced as part of its identity update

 
new google logo introduced as part of its identity update

you might have noticed a slight difference today when you fired up the web’s most popular search engine. that’s right, google has done away with it’s famous serif logotype and replaced it with a circular sans-serif one. the new logotype is supported by a four colored ‘G’ icon that acts as an abbreviated version of the logo and four dots one in each of its it’s familiar blue, red, yellow and green palette.

‘these days, people interact with google products across many different platforms, apps and devices—sometimes all in a single day. you expect google to help you whenever and wherever you need it, whether it’s on your mobile phone, tv, watch, the dashboard in your car, and yes, even a desktop.

today we’re introducing a new logo and identity family that reflects this reality and shows you when the google magic is working for you, even on the tiniest screens. as you’ll see, we’ve taken the google logo and branding, which were originally built for a single desktop browser page, and updated them for a world of seamless computing across an endless number of devices and different kinds of inputs (such as tap, type and talk).

it doesn’t simply tell you that you’re using google, but also shows you how google is working for you. for example, new elements like a colorful google mic help you identify and interact with google whether you’re talking, tapping or typing. meanwhile, we’re bidding adieu to the little blue ‘G’ icon and replacing it with a four-color ‘G’ that matches the logo.’ – google blog

designers from all across google including creative lab and the material design team, convened in new york for an intense, week-long design sprint. they drafted a brief that identified four challenges they wanted to address:

1. a scalable mark that could convey the feeling of the full logotype in constrained spaces.

2. the incorporation of dynamic, intelligent motion that responded to users at all stages of an interaction.

3. a systematic approach to branding in our products to provide consistency in people’s daily encounters with google.

4. 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.

‘we started by distilling the essence of our brand down to its core—four colors on a clean white background—and built it back up. stickies were stuck, pins were pushed, and beziers were animated. with the cutting room floor littered with hundreds of hours of design work, we set out with a few directions that excited us.’

‘we shared the thinking with teams across the organization. engineering, research, product, and marketing tested the ideas and evaluated their feasibility as we iterated on the design and rollout strategy. this collaborative process led to a system flexible enough to be used across our marketing materials and product work on any platform: three elemental states that make up a single logo.’

‘the thinking and design development goes much deeper than the core elements, and a spec was developed to help with consistency across teams working on a wide range of applications. the following examples are not comprehensive, but show a bit of the thinking that went into the system.’ – google design team

google explain their new identity’s core elements:

google logotype – a sans serif logotype that retains our distinct multi-color sequence.

the google logo has always had a simple, friendly, and approachable style. we wanted to retain these qualities by combining the mathematical purity of geometric forms with the childlike simplicity of schoolbook letter printing. the 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.

the final logotype was tested exhaustively at various sizes and weights for maximum legibility in all the new digital contexts. to guide usage in screen and print, we developed standards to cover all aspects of the logotype including spacing, clearance rules, product lockups, and redline specifications for in-product treatments.

google G – a compact version of the google logo that works in small contexts.

the google g is directly derived from the logotype ‘g,’ but uses increased visual weight to stand up at small sizes and contexts where it needs to share space with other elements. designed on the same grid as our product iconography, the circular shape was optically refined to prevent a visual ‘overbite’ at the point where the circular form meets the crossbar. the color proportions convey the full spectrum of the logotype and are sequenced to aid eye movement around the letterform.

google dots – a dynamic distillation of the logotype for interactive, assistive, and transitional moments

the google dots are a dynamic and perpetually moving state of the logo. they represent google’s intelligence at work and indicate when google is working for you. we consider these unique, magic moments. a full range of expressions were developed including listening, thinking, replying, incomprehension, and confirmation. while their movements might seem spontaneous, their motion is rooted in consistent paths and timing, with the dots moving along geometric arcs and following a standard set of snappy easing curves.

color

the google logotype benefits from whitespace 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.

more
further details on the evolution of the logo can be found here »