For the first time in 8 years, Google decided to make another adjustment to the appearance of the Chrome browser icon. This was required to ensure “conformity with a more modern representation of the Google brand” – browser icons will have some differences for each operating system.
In the new redesign, the multi-colored areas of the outer ring no longer have shadows – they have been replaced by subtle gradients that provide better color matching at the borders, especially between green and red. The proportions of the elements have changed slightly, and the colors have become brighter.
Globally, over the 15 years of its existence, the browser logo has not changed ideologically, it has only been updated taking into account the trends of its time. There have been four redesigns in total, including the current one. You can see all of them in the picture above.
Google adapted the logo for different platforms to better fit with their aesthetic. In Windows 10 & 11, the icon has a smoother look. Colors are sharper in Chrome OS. For Mac, the logo was made slightly three-dimensional to look more like native Apple icons.
Also, one of the designers said that the placement of certain shades of green and red side by side “creates an unpleasant color vibration.” Therefore, it was decided to add a subtle gradient to soften the transition.
