Google has tossed their iconic font in place of a new, sleeker and modern style.
The rainbow-coloured serif font, designed by Ruth Kedar and based on a 1982 typeface by Gustav Jaeger had been in place since 1999 after the company switched from Baskerville Bold. Over the years, the wordmark has evolved, but never as drastically as it did Tuesday morning.
The logo has been stripped down and simplified several times in the last 15 years. In 2010, Google removed the drop shadow behind their lettering and brightened some of the colouring. In 2013, the embossed style was removed in favour of a flat design more in tune with contemporary styles.
Now Google has dropped their use of ‘serifs’ – the detailing attached to the ends of some letters as soon in fonts like Times New Roman and Courier New. ‘Sans serif’ fonts without the use of serifs, like Arial and Helvetica, usually appears more modern, relaxed and lively.
These fonts are also usually easier to read on smaller screens, part of the reason why Google opted for the era-ending new look.
“Once upon a time, Google was one destination that you reached from one device: a desktop PC. These days, people interact with Google products across many different platforms, apps and devices—sometimes all in a single day,” wrote Tamar Yehoshua, Vice President of Product Management and Bobby Nath, Director of User Experience in a blog post released Tuesday.
“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.”
They have also changed the blue ‘g’ icon into a multi-coloured capital “G” icon.
“We think we’ve taken the best of Google (simple, uncluttered, colorful, friendly), and recast it not just for the Google of today, but for the Google of the future,” the company said, signing off.
Some people have already gotten used to the new design, but others are less than pleased, saying it looks “childish”. “The new Google logo looks like it can definitely tell me how to get to Sesame Street,” wrote Rita Fitzgerald on Twitter.
@TieTuesdaySA @google I mean logo looks like a graphic design assignment from the first year of community college but we have to let it go
— Smarmo (@damehasclass) September 1, 2015
@meshal4500 @google I like that they opted for a sans serif word mark. It looks quite childish but like the animation executions. — Hazim Al-Moammarie (@Hazimov) September 1, 2015
@google dear God, your new logo is awful. Looks like what I’d use to find Muppet Baby websites, not real information for grown-ups. Blech.
— MJfromBuffalo (@mjfrombuffalo) September 1, 2015
Others cant help but love it.
@google it’s simply wonderful…! 🙂 — Luca De Berardinis (@lucadb) September 1, 2015
Nice new logo! Simple as the brightest ideas @google
— Tomi Toyosato Jeri (@TomiToyosato) September 1, 2015
@google Loving the new square “G” logo! It’s going to look really fresh over social media platforms! #google #socialmedia #design — Iskender P.S. (@izzydoesizzy) September 1, 2015
@google The slightly tilted ‘e’ is adorable!
— Helly Shah (@HellyS_Shah) September 1, 2015
The Google logo through the years
What do you think of the new logo?
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