Google’s Fresh New Look & Why Your Logo Matters

Internet users the world over woke up to a slightly different Google this week, with the company’s iconic logo swapped out for a newer, cleaner look in a brand new font. The change comes shortly after the recent structural change at the company saw it become part of a larger entity, Alphabet, with the popular search engine becoming a smaller faction of a much bigger corporation. The sans-serif font is called Product Sans and is custom made specifically for the new logo, featuring the same well known-colour scheme as the older logo.  A “doodle” on Google’s homepage documented the evolution of the logo, finally landing on its current form. The logo itself was new, but with the reveal of Google’s switch to the Alphabet banner, evidence of a new direction was already on the website.  So why was this change such a big deal?

Your logo is, in many respects, the first thing a client or customer will see and know about your company. Depending on how it’s designed, they’ll be able to decipher a number of things. Humans are subconsciously visual, so the messages we receive from logos and all types of branding shapes how we feel about that particular brand, which is why many restaurants have shades of red, yellow and brown in the logos; as these are all colours that tend to trigger hunger. Blue has a calming and comforting effect, which is why you can find the shade in many logos in the healthcare sector, from pharmaceuticals to hospitals.

Changing your logo can be tricky, and needs plenty of forethought before it’s executed. Many companies do a complete overhaul of their image that usually coincides with other big changes within the brand, while others makes subtle tweaks to their logos for one of many reasons. Scrapping and starting over might be detrimental to your ability to connect with old customers who gravitate to your products quickly by a particular emblem, but simplifying a complex logo may help the brand connect to a brand new customer base. Older customers will eventually follow suit – even if it takes a bit of time. Take cues from current design trends without choosing a logo that will look similar to too many others. Changes in how we consume media will have an effect on the collective tastes of consumers; and this will effect which logos resonate and which ones don’t.

With something as important as your logo, make sure it represents exactly what you stand for in a simple way that can be slight modified in colour or direction to still function to get your point across!