So, Google redesigned their logo. It’s normal for a huge brand to roll out a redesign of their brand because it always makes for a good debate and lots of discussion.
I am not going to talk about Google’s move from serif to sans or their updated palette. There are a bunch of great write-ups about the design itself out there you can find. What I will talk about is how Google has brought motion design to the forefront of branding design with just 4 dots.
In their post about the redesign Google says “The Google dots are a dynamic and perpetually moving state of the logo.” That’s it, right there. Motion design is one of the biggest, and most important, trends in web design over the last year or so and that trend is now spilling over into branding. It’s foolish to think about branding as static design anymore. It hasn’t been for a while but now, more than ever, motion is a part of our entire aesthetic.
The Google dots not only bring motion to the brand but they allow the brand to take on a larger workload. The brand is now responsible for notifications like loading and listening. The introduction of motion and the use of the brand as a notification system is the most interesting part of this redesign. This will likely open up more doors in branding design and inspire others to push even farther.
