The changes to the Chrome logo are subtle, but for its creators, they’re vital.
Google Chrome has been the leader of web browsers worldwide for several years and its image is one of the most famous on the Internet. But now it will have a few small changes to modernize.
Elvin Hu, designer of Chrome, has announced the redesign of the logo through his Twitter account, which will change after 8 years without retouching.
Some of you might have noticed a new icon in Chrome’s Canary update today. Yes! we’re refreshing Chrome’s brand icons for the first time in 8 years. The new icons will start to appear across your devices soon. pic.twitter.com/aaaRRzFLI1
— Elvin 🌈 (@elvin_not_11) February 4, 2022
You see the difference?
For sure, the changes in the logo are subtle.
Instead of incorporating shadows on the edges between each color, essentially “lifting” them off the screen, red, yellow, and green are simply flat. And although Hu doesn’t mention it, the blue circle in the middle appears to be larger.
Apparently, Google ‘s design team found that “placing certain shades of green and red next to each other created an unpleasant color vibrancy.” To fix this and make the icon “more accessible”, they decided to use very subtle gradients.
Chrome ‘s main logo (the one you click from your dock or taskbar to access the web) will also not look the same on all systems. On ChromeOS, the logo will appear more colorful to complement the other system icons, while on macOS, the logo will have a slight shadow, making it appear to “come out” of the port. Meanwhile, the Windows 10 and 11 version has a more drastic gradient to match the style of other Windows icons.
From 2008 until now, the Chrome logo has been gradually getting simpler. What started as a shiny three-dimensional emblem has become a 2D symbol of modernity.
The new logo is already available in Chrome Canary, the version for developers, and will reach all users in the coming months.