Google has released a major update for its popular Photos app, which includes a simplified layout and a new map view. But perhaps the most notable aspect of the update is a new Google Photos logo.
The app logo has been flattened, with each of the four shapes now rounded instead of pointed. Logo design inspiration can come from many places, and in a blog post featuring the redesign, Google says the pinwheel design (those lovely windmill beach toys) is a nod to childhood and nostalgia. . But some don’t sell entirely with the new streamlined look.
Thanks I hate it. pic.twitter.com/W5NSKuDjiJJune 25, 2020
I’m torn I like simplicity, but there is a point where something becomes TOO simple, to the point of losing identity June 25, 2020
Why are there so many companies looking for simplistic logos now? I’m not overly complex, but the Google Photos logo was fine with the way it was. No need for change https://t.co/iiVrlESRoBJune 25, 2020
Google claims to have retained “that familiar form of the pinwheel to recall past memories,” but we are not sure that the pinwheel is particularly recognizable in this simplified form. The elimination of both two-tone shading and overlapping pointed shapes has led to the loss of a certain tactile quality, making the semicircles simply look like four separate abstract shapes. As one designer suggests (below), perhaps the logo colors could have been simplified without losing the familiar overall shape.
Fixed it pic.twitter.com/K2AUcb9aJ325 June 2020
A Twitter user even detected a similarity between the new Google Photos logo and that of a certain American supermarket chain. In fact, it looks like Google’s new design is only a few Photoshop shortcuts to becoming a fruit bowl.
Hello, we are @googlephotos and we would like to sell you some groceries. @CreativeBloq pic.twitter.com/RXYFCa45sv25 June 2020
Still, while it may not yell ‘pinwheel’ at us, we would say the new Google logo is a nice, clean example of flat design – rounded edges may be more abstract, but more consistent with round logo design for others. Google services like Chrome and Maps.
While users are expected to adapt to the new logo over time, when an icon receives them every day on their home screen, it’s important to get it right, something Apple is discovering the hard way with the backlash to your new MacOS Big Sur icons.
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