Google’s logo goes flat

Search engine giant Google is rolling out a new identity, which ditches the previous 3D-style elements of the logo.

The new Google logo
The new Google logo

The new, flat identity, which also features a refined colour palette and updated letter shapes, is launching across most Google products over the next few weeks, according to Google tech lead manager Eddie Kessler.

It is already visible to some users on the Google UK homepage.

The update sees Google ditch the shadowing effect it used in its previous logo, which was brought in in 2010.

The previous Google logo, with letter shadowing
The previous Google logo, with letter shadowing

The moves comes shortly after Google’s search engine rival Yahoo went the other way, introducing a bevelled shadow effect in its new identity, which launched at the start of the month.

Yahoo
Yahoo's old (top) and new (bottom) logos
Yahoo’s old (top) and new (bottom) logos

Yahoo’s new identity was designed over a weekend by a team led by company chief executive Marissa Mayer, who says, ‘For the texture, we came up with the nice idea of creating a chiselled triangular depth to the logo – this causes the letter Y to appear in the shading at the ends of each of the letters.’

As well as introducing its new logo, Google is also introducing a new ‘app launcher bar’ which allows users to quickly access Google products including Gmail and Google+.

Hide Comments (4)Show Comments (4)
Comments
  • Neil Ayres November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    The move also comes as iOS7 arrives, which is as much an upgrade of Android as it is of iOS, and which ditches skeuomorphism in favour of layers. See also the updated Twitter UI and new Bing logo. That said, I bet none of them have hidden Ys though.

  • Michael Dale November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    What’s the world coming to when one of the planet’s biggest tech companies designs their new logo ‘over the weekend’! But I guess it shows.

  • Michael Dale November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    What is the World coming to when one of the planet’s largest tech companies redesigns their identity ‘over the weekend’. Mind you, it shows.

  • Simon France November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Where exactly are these “Hidden” Y’s in the new Yahoo logo? I really can’t see them.

  • Post a comment

Latest articles