What you need to know
- Google has started rolling out colorful new gradient icons for Gmail, Drive, Docs, Calendar, and more.
- The redesigned Workspace icons ditch Google’s strict four-color style for a softer gradient look.
- The new icons are already visible in Google’s web app launcher, although the apps still show the older versions.
Last month, a leak revealed that Google was preparing a major visual refresh for its Workspace icon, nearly six years after the last redesign. The leak claims that apps like Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Sheets, and Slides will receive updated icons with a stronger focus on gradients and mixed colors.
The leak also revealed that Google is moving away from its strict color separation between icons, and those refreshed icons are now finally visible to users.
Now, if you open Google’s website and go to the quick app launcher in the top-right corner, you’ll start seeing new workspace icons there. Interestingly, the icons aren’t fully implemented across all apps yet. For example, Gmail and Drive still show the old icons inside the apps, but the new icons now appear from Google’s main homepage and launcher menu.
And as suggested in the leak, these icons are much more colorful and gradient-heavy than before. The Google Drive icon now focuses primarily on green, yellow, and blue, removing the small red corner detail from the old design. Similarly, the Docs, Slides, and Sheets icons now have a softer gradient appearance instead of the more flat look before.
The Google Calendar icon is also moving back to a more blue-focused design. Gmail still keeps the familiar envelope-shaped ‘M’ logo, but now uses gradients instead of solid colors.
The Google Meet icon appears to have shifted to a much more yellow-heavy gradient style. Meanwhile, Keep and Tasks also look completely different, with Google simplifying and softening their overall look.
Since these icons are already starting to appear on Google’s homepage, we expect a broader rollout to Workspace apps during or shortly after Google I/O week.
Android Central’s Tech
I really like the direction Google is going with these new icons. The calendar icon in particular looks much cleaner now, and removing the strict four-color branding makes the entire Workspace suite feel much more modern. That said, I’m still not settled on the new Meet and Task icons.
