The appearances are gentler and more diverse.
The appearances are gentler and more diverse.
In late 2025, Google began introducing new icons featuring a gradient style. It now appears that this fresh appearance is expanding to the remaining Google applications. 9to5Google has obtained visuals of the revamped icons that discard the unified circular design attempting to incorporate every hue of the Google logo.
Overall, the designs are more gentle. The corners are smoother, and the gradients subtly move from nearly pastel to richer Google primary shades. We’ve already witnessed this updated design philosophy reflected in newer versions of the Google G logo, along with Gemini, Photos, and Maps. According to 9to5, this indicates the introduction of AI-integrated functionalities.
The updated icons are more playful, vibrant, and diverse, mirroring recent design trends that have moved away from the flat aesthetics of the late 2010s and early 2020s. Google Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and Keep all abandon the portrait-oriented paper aesthetic. Many transition to a landscape format, which is far more fitting — when was the last time you witnessed a vertical PowerPoint presentation?
The majority of the icons seem like improvements. They are visually more distinctive and frequently adopt a single color, such as Chat, which replaces the four-color speech bubble outline with a green shape featuring a smile inside that is reminiscent of the Google Hangouts icon. The one exception is the Keep icon which, in my view, resembles a mess.
It remains unclear when the new icons will begin to be deployed, but it is likely to happen soon.
