Google is rebranding its suite of collaborative office products that includes Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Calendar etc., aiming to better integrate with other applications and redesign some of its most prominent icons with the company’s signature four-color palette.
Google says, “Our new Google Workspace brand reflects this more connected, helpful, and flexible experience, and our icons will reflect the same.”
So here is our ‘Creative Head – Jaikishan S.’ take on Rebranding of Google Suite with things he really likes and certain things he will miss or actually did not like at all.
Things we will miss or doesn’t like
The famous “M” shape of the envelope is emphasized so well, and the color red and white is so instantly noticeable and readable, this old school icon will be missed.
Color is a key point and one of the first things you notice about anything, so having a specific color is important to typeface and design in lots of ways where in the new icons don’t really have a color, instead they all have all the colors, which makes it harder to set them apart at a glance.
The issue with these icons is that their shapes are not up to the mark. They’re all hollow, and the majority of them are rectangular and at a glance most of them are basically just big O’s.
Things we liked
The new design aligns Gmail with Google’s signature color as well as Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Chrome, Google Fit and other Google applications. Also, Change can be good! And now you’ll have absolutely no doubt that Gmail is a Google product.
But now Gmail is just another multi-color shape in a sea of very similar patterns and shapes.
So, share your thoughts in comments about what you like or don’t like about the new “Google Workspace branding.”