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I'll just share the phrase I think on an almost daily basis, when I see whatever latest thing has been changed for no reason: Change for the sake of change. T

I'll just share the phrase I think on an almost daily basis, when I see whatever latest thing has been changed for no reason: Change for the sake of change. This change provides exactly zero value to users, and in fact I see it as a step backwards, just as the article author suggests. The previous icon for Google Docs was clearly a _document_. The new one is essentially an abstract rectangle that I _might_ recognize as a document, if I am really paying close attention. The Hangouts icon previously conveyed the text chat nature with the speech bubble. This important distinction is gone, now implying that Hangouts is strictly a video chat platform.

lyrrad 6y ago
I think the new Docs icon is very similar to the old one: A blue rectangle. Chat's icon is two overlapping green speech bubbles. All the new icons appear to be on this page: https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html
- bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
  Those aren’t all the new icons. The new docs icon is a four-colored hollow pentagon in the same shape as the current icon.
  - lyrrad 6y ago
    I believe that's the icon that references all of Docs/Sheets/Slides/Keep/Sites/Forms, but not individual apps. I'm not sure where the four color rectangle is used, other than marketing material. The individual document types appear to have updated single-color icons. I see some of updated single color icons already in iOS (e.g. Docs/Sheets/Slides).
makecheck 6y ago
Yeah, kinda reminds me of how Apple’s App Store icon morphed from three clear overlapping objects into just... matchsticks? Why must things become so flat and abstract that they look like nothing at all!?
stjohnswarts 6y ago
I just got a complement from my manager and he says he likes all the utilities that I write for the company because I concentrate on the most used features and put them to the fore. I use the 80/20 rule a lot in the TUI utilities that I write and I think regular GUI people could do better by doing the same. I mostly work on backend load balancing stuff but we all take turns on some more mundane script writing. A lot my teammates just throw in tons of options with no ordering or priority to make using the tool a little bit better. All those "little bit betters" add up over time as the number of utilities grow.
aeternum 6y ago
In the web browser which is primarily where I look at the Google icons, it's not terrible. It's now much easier to see my Google-related tabs and there is a decent consistency whereas before calendar, gmail, and drive looked totally different.
- webmaven 6y ago
  > It's now much easier to see my Google-related tabs and there is a decent consistency whereas before calendar, gmail, and drive looked totally different. Sure, if "Google-related" is the meaningful category you're trying to distinguish from other tabs, rather than a particular task or application. So, yes, branding-wise these logos all look related (inbred, even), but is that really the single most important quality for them to have? The outcome is that these logos aren't distinctive enough from each other, and have been abstracted to meaninglessness. A better balance between those two concerns could have been struck, primarily by relaxing the apparent constraint that every logo has to include every color.

lyrrad 6y ago

I think the new Docs icon is very similar to the old one: A blue rectangle. Chat's icon is two overlapping green speech bubbles. All the new icons appear to be on this page: https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html

bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
Those aren’t all the new icons. The new docs icon is a four-colored hollow pentagon in the same shape as the current icon.
- lyrrad 6y ago
  I believe that's the icon that references all of Docs/Sheets/Slides/Keep/Sites/Forms, but not individual apps. I'm not sure where the four color rectangle is used, other than marketing material. The individual document types appear to have updated single-color icons. I see some of updated single color icons already in iOS (e.g. Docs/Sheets/Slides).

makecheck 6y ago

Yeah, kinda reminds me of how Apple’s App Store icon morphed from three clear overlapping objects into just... matchsticks? Why must things become so flat and abstract that they look like nothing at all!?

stjohnswarts 6y ago

I just got a complement from my manager and he says he likes all the utilities that I write for the company because I concentrate on the most used features and put them to the fore. I use the 80/20 rule a lot in the TUI utilities that I write and I think regular GUI people could do better by doing the same. I mostly work on backend load balancing stuff but we all take turns on some more mundane script writing. A lot my teammates just throw in tons of options with no ordering or priority to make using the tool a little bit better. All those "little bit betters" add up over time as the number of utilities grow.

aeternum 6y ago

In the web browser which is primarily where I look at the Google icons, it's not terrible. It's now much easier to see my Google-related tabs and there is a decent consistency whereas before calendar, gmail, and drive looked totally different.

webmaven 6y ago
> It's now much easier to see my Google-related tabs and there is a decent consistency whereas before calendar, gmail, and drive looked totally different. Sure, if "Google-related" is the meaningful category you're trying to distinguish from other tabs, rather than a particular task or application. So, yes, branding-wise these logos all look related (inbred, even), but is that really the single most important quality for them to have? The outcome is that these logos aren't distinctive enough from each other, and have been abstracted to meaninglessness. A better balance between those two concerns could have been struck, primarily by relaxing the apparent constraint that every logo has to include every color.