Google Apps and Services Start Getting Redesigned Logo, Icons

Google late on Tuesday unveiled its new logo and brand identity that carries the essence of its evolved form from a search offering to an ubiquitous presence on a variety of devices. The new logo's sans-serif typeface matches that of Google's new holding company, Alphabet, while the company is bringing the same four-colour designs to other logos and branding across its products and services. Starting with Search on desktop, the company has now started rolling out app updates with the new logo and icons, apart from refreshed logos and branding in Web services.

Detailing the new design language in a blog post, the search giant said, "Last year we introduced Material Design to help designers and developers embrace an expanding, multi-device, multi-screen world. With those considerations in mind, we are excited to share a new brand identity that aims to make Google more accessible and useful to our users-wherever they may encounter it." It added most of the changes revolve around the new sans-serif Google Logotype, as well as the four-colour Dots and Google G.

With apps, Google Search, Google Now, Google Maps, and Google+ are among the first apps that have started receiving redesigned elements bringing in the new logotype, four-colour tone, and the new Google G icon.

In a separate blog post on Tuesday, the company announced that the new visual language for Google logo, icon, and animated dots will now be visible on the search on mobile web and Google app. The search results page has also been updated, with content such as images, videos, and news stories among others now accessible by swiping and tapping. On Android devices, the Google Search (aka Google app) app now features the four-colour mic icon on the right in the search bar, and the new 'G' icon on the left, which takes users to a new home page. The blog post notes that when there's doodle, it will appear on top of the home page. The new Google app update bumps the version to 5.2.33 and primarily brings a new logo, icon, design language.

The Google Now cards have also received slight tweak as it will now be organised by category and as the day progresses, the cards will shift and change sizes to make the most important ones stand out.

The new Maps version, which we covered in detail on Tuesday, now includes the new Maps logo as well. Apart from the new navigation UI for users, the version 9.14 of the Maps for Android brings compare option for ETAs across driving, transit, walking and cycling. The new app update also brings bug fixes. Users not seeing the updated app can sideload the Google-signed apk file (via Android Police).

Google Translate has also received an update that bumps the version to 4.3 from 4.1 and brings the new logo to the app.

As for the company's Web services, the rebranding is visible across Google+, Gmail, Search, Calendar, Translate, Maps, News, and Drive, with the new sans-serif Google logo seen.