Google tweaks its logo. Internet squints
Google has updated its logo for the first time in a decade – but should it have gone further?
Image by Cybernews
Google has updated its logo for the first time in a decade – but should it have gone further?
If it’s not broken, why fix it? That seems to be the thinking behind the barely-there redesign of the search giant’s “G” icon, last changed in 2015.
The new version blends the red, yellow, green, and blue segments into a smoother gradient, meant to feel more modern, screen-friendly, and vaguely AI-ish.
Google didn’t even advertise a change so subtle, but it did not go unnoticed, with a mix of reactions of praise, confused memes, and users wondering whether their vision just got worse.
In a post on social media platform X, Morning Brew poked fun at the update by sharing an image of Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman, with and without his glasses, implying Google’s new logo is the same logo, just blurry.
Google has updated its logo for the first time in 10 years pic.twitter.com/fnmhdnD7ND
undefined Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) May 12, 2025
Charles Patterson, principal product designer at Microsoft, didn’t miss the chance to tease the rival company. He posted a mock exchange in which Google asks for a redesign, and the designer replies “dw I got you” – before applying a “layer blur” effect.
Google: we need a new logo
undefined Charles Patterson (@CharlesPattson) May 12, 2025
Designer: dw I got you
*clicks layer blur* pic.twitter.com/YQuyp6sgNb
Others drew comparisons to the 1999 update of Japan’s flag, which looked nearly identical to the version commonly used before.
“Google claims they’ve changed their logo,” an account called Pop Flop noted, posting the two designs side by side.
To be fair, in Japan’s case, it wasn’t so much a redesign as the formal adoption and standardization of the flag’s proportions and colors – unlike Google’s change, which is entirely about aesthetics, not official necessity.
Google claims they’ve changed their logo. pic.twitter.com/gnSXkqfYjb
undefined Pop Flop (@ThePopFlop) May 12, 2025
The redesign had plenty of fans, too, with one user suggesting Google should reimage all its logos in the same “sleek” style. “That would be seriously satisfying,” they said, adding a heart-eyes emoji.
What if Google reimagined every Logo of its services in the same sleek style? That would be seriously satisfying! 😍#Google #GoogleLogo pic.twitter.com/C9TIdMNAoT
undefined Ujjwal Kumar (@imujjwaal) May 13, 2025
According to 9to5Google, which first reported the update, the new logo looks “more vibrant and colorful.”
The redesigned icon appeared on Android with Google app version 16.18 (beta) on Monday (May 13th) and is also being used in the Google Search app for iOS, the website said.
It remains unclear whether Google plans to update its full six-letter logo or other product logos.