Google updates its iconic ‘G’ logo after a decade, receives online criticism

Google’s original icon, introduced in 1999, featured an uppercase ‘G’ on a white background.

Published On 2025-05-13 11:40:07

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Side-by-side comparison of Google’s original 1999 ‘G’ logo and its newly updated version released after a decade.

Google has just revealed a new version of its iconic ‘G’ logo with a colour gradient feature, apart from its previous colour segmented version. The minor update in the logo has brought immense debate online with users highlighting that this is ‘No Innovation’.

Google’s logo journey over the years

Google’s first icon was an Uppercase ‘G’ on a white background released in 1999. The logo was accompanied by a border with its patent colours- Red, Blue, and Green. This icon remained in use till 2008, when it was replaced by a small letter ‘g’. The new icon was designed in a blue colour with white background and was widely used by the company for its marketing of other products as well.

This logo didn’t stay longer as the company updated it in just 8 months. The new logo was a blend of Google's signature colours, including red, green, blue and yellow. The small lettered ‘g’ was placed in the right with a small portion of the letter cropped. This logo was special in several ways as it was designed by a computer science graduate of Brazil.

The logo was submitted for a contest launched by Google in June 2008 for their favicon submissions. However, google chose this logo to be used later by stating that the placement of ‘g’ on a colour blocked background was highly attractive.

Google then updated their logo in 2012. This new logo was designed with a light blue background and a white coloured small letter ‘g’. The next logo was released in 2015 which has been replaced just recently. This logo was capital lettered ‘G’ with segmented signature colours of the company.

The new logo has now been revealed after 10 years, however, this logo just had minor changes with the previous colour segments transformed into gradient.

Netizens are expressing their outrage over the new design, stating that it doesn’t reflect innovation and creativity.

A user named Dakota Donaldson wrote, “They really call shading “innovation.”

Another user named Rosemary Dinatale wrote, “This logo seems just a work done by a lazy artist who was blending the colours to make something new but then stopped. Didn’t expected it after 10 years.”

“This seems no change, rather they would have sticked to the previous version,” wrote another user.