Brow Beat

The New Google Logo Is Perfect for Google

Tuesday morning, Google rolled out of bed and stepped out the door with a fresh new look and a new attitude. Gone are the logo’s familiar sharp turns, hard edges, and slightly medieval look. Say hello to something a little more fun, bold, and, most importantly, “now.”

It’s amazing what clipping off a few serifs can do. Introducing a new font family called Product Sans, Google has chosen to go with a strong-yet-sleek look that will look equally as pretty on small, handheld devices as it will on large-scale displays. From a design aspect, that’s where the sauce lies: legibility and adaptability. The “less is more” mantra is on full blast here. Meanwhile their trademark rainbow color palette remains:

The majority of the knee-jerk takes on Twitter Tuesday all revolve around the complaint that the new logo has a childish feel. And I’m sure the Google Doodle depicting a hand drawing the new logo with sidewalk chalk only reinforces those reactions. But that’s not what I see.

I see six letters that represent a youthful, dynamic creativity—a notion that this company was built on. Without that playful spirit, Google isn’t really Google. But of course, we’re talking about a massive media conglomerate here, so they couldn’t get too crazy. How does Google show us that they aren’t that stiff? A slightly tilted E.