The designs have become softer and more diverse.
Late in 2025, Google began releasing new icons featuring a gradient design. These changes are now expanding to the rest of Google’s apps. According to 9to5Google, the new images show icons moving away from the previous unified circle design that attempted to incorporate all the colors from the Google logo.
Overall, the designs appear softer with rounder corners and gradients transitioning smoothly from near-pastels to Google’s brighter primary colors. This updated design style has already been seen in the Google G logo, Gemini, Photos, and Maps. As per 9to5, this indicates a presence of AI-driven features.
The new icons are more playful, vibrant, and varied, aligning with recent design trends that have moved past the flat visuals of the late 2010s and early 2020s. Google Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and Keep have moved away from the vertical sheet of paper look to a landscape layout, which is more suitable—when’s the last time you saw a vertical PowerPoint presentation?
Most icons feel like an enhancement, being visually distinct and often embracing a single color, such as Chat, which now features a green blob with a smile instead of the four-color speech bubble outline, reminiscent of the Google Hangouts icon. However, the Keep icon appears less appealing.
The exact timing for the new icon rollout is not clear, but it is expected to be relatively soon.