Google began rolling out a fresh gradient-style icon design in late 2025, and now that new look appears to be heading to more of its apps.
According to images obtained by 9to5Google, the company is moving away from the uniform circular icons that tried to fit all of Google’s logo colors into one small shape.
The updated icons have a softer and more modern feel. The corners are rounder, and the gradients move smoothly from light, almost pastel shades to Google’s brighter primary colors. This design style has already appeared in updated icons for the Google “G” logo, Gemini, Google Photos, and Google Maps. According to 9to5Google, the new design also reflects Google’s growing focus on AI-powered features.
The icons look more playful, colorful, and varied than the flatter designs that were common in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Google Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and Keep are also dropping the old portrait-style paper design. Several of them now use a wider landscape layout, which feels more fitting for apps like Slides.
Most of the redesigned icons appear cleaner and easier to tell apart. Some apps now lean more heavily into one main color. Google Chat, for example, moves from a four-color speech bubble outline to a green shape with a smiling face inside, giving it a look that feels somewhat similar to the old Google Hangouts icon.
Google has not yet confirmed when all of these new icons will roll out, but the wider redesign suggests users may start seeing them across more apps soon.
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