Official: Google unveils its new logo

NEW LOGO: Hello flatness my old friend

NEW LOGO: Hello flatness my old friend

After a few weeks of confusion, with Google's new logo (above) accidentally being released into the wild, the search giant has finally showed its cards, officially rolling it out on its homepage.

In tandem with the trend for flat design, the shadows of the old logo (below) have been flattened, which Google says makes it more consistent with the current user interface.

OLD LOGO: Will be phased out over the next few weeks

OLD LOGO: Will be phased out over the next few weeks

However, Google cannot accused of making a knee-jerk reaction to the flat design trend - as this 'new' logo has actually been in use on internal company documents for years, such as this PDF from 2010.

The search giant announced the changes in this blog post, saying: "As part of this design, we've also refined the color palette and letter shapes of the Google logo. We'll be rolling out this update across most Google products over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out and let us know your thoughts."

The new logo is being accompanied by a new-look top nav bar:

Google products such as GMail, YouTube and Maps are now accessible under a new app launcher: the nine-dot grid icon, located at the top right of the screen:

"Regardless of your routine, getting around Google should be seamless, and once you're inside an app, you don't want any distractions," says Google. "So we're introducing an updated Google bar that streamlines your experience across products and devices."

With fresh looks for both the Yahoo logo and Bing logo recently, not to mention Apple jettisoning skeuomorphism in iOS7 it seems that shadows are definitely out of fashion. For those who miss a sense of depth to their search logo, here's a look back at some of Google's chunkier past logos...

May 1999 - May 2010

May 1999 - May 2010

August 1998 - May 1999

August 1998 - May 1999

Original Google logo

Original Google logo

Like this? Read these!

What do you think of Google's new logo design? Let us know in the comments box below!

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of seven full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Deals Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Digital Arts and Design Editor Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson and Ecommerce Writer Abi Le Guilcher, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.