Google’s new gradient icon design is coming to more apps
At the end of 2025, Google began rolling out new icons with a gradient design. It now appears that the new look is being applied to the rest of Google’s apps. 9to5Google has gotten its hands on images of the new icons which abandon the uniform circular design that attempts to group together all the colors of the Google logo.
In general, the looks are softer. The corners are more rounded, the gradients smoothly transition from almost pastel colors to Google’s more saturated primary colors. We’ve already seen this new design language appear in updated versions of the Google G logo, as well as Gemini, Photos, and Maps. According to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., this represents the presence of AI-based features.
The new icons are more playful, dynamic and varied, reflecting recent design trends that have moved away from the flat looks of the late 2010s and early 2020s. Google Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites and Keep all abandon the portrait-oriented sheet of paper look. Many of them switch to landscape layout, which is much more appropriate: When was the last time you saw a vertical PowerPoint presentation?
Most of the icons seem like an improvement. They’re more visually distinct and often adopt a single color, like Chat, which swaps the four-color bubble outline for a green blob with a smile inside that’s reminiscent of the Google Hangouts icon. The only exception is the Keep icon which, to me, looks like a hot trash can.
It’s unclear when the new icons will start rolling out, but it will likely be sooner rather than later.
