In early October,2020 as part of a wider rebrand of the company’s G Suite offering under the name Google Workspace, Google abandoned the envelope stamped with the red letter M which has featured in every Gmail logo since its launch in 2004 and introduced a new simplified, multi-colored logo instead.
According to Javier Soltero, vice president and general manager of Google Workplace, the reasoning behind this decision of creating new set of logos under one theme as wrote in a blog post was “10 years ago, when many of our products were first developed, they were created as individual apps that solved distinct challenges—like a better email with Gmail, or a new way for individuals to collaborate together with Docs. Over time, our products have become more integrated, so much so that the lines between our apps have started to disappear.”
This rebranding stirred huge debate around the world by comparing those logos with previous ones. But for me this triggered an interest to dig into the history of the Gmail logo.
2004 (Beta Version):
Gmail was first launched in 2004 as a BETA version and the initial logo was actually represented as Google Mail. It positioned the word “mail” underneath the more prominent Google logo, just off-center. The logo also incorporated the text “beta.”
2004:
When the service was formally launched in 2004, Google introduced the brand name of Gmail and with that introduced a new logo. The logo of Gmail was developed literally the night before the launch by Dennis Hwang, who made almost all of the Google doodles at the time. Gmail became the most prominent part of the logo, with the words “by Google” in smaller type and aligned underneath, to the left side. Initially they had tried to make the Gmail logo in the same font as the Google logo, a font called Catull designed in 1983. But Catull has a “very awkward” letter ‘a’ which made it unusable for “Gmail.” Hwang opted to keep the “G” in Catull but to render the “ail” in a sans serif font and end up using Myriad Pro.
2010:
In 2010, Gmail relaunched its front page. At the same time, they introduced an updated logo that was more in line with Google’s recently launched logo. The only visible change is words “by Google” were shifted to align with the right side underneath the Gmail logo.
2013:
In 2013, they went for a different version which was sleeker and more minimalistic than its predecessor. It only includes red, gray, and white as the background color. There are several shades of the red and gray, necessary for creating 3D effects with the logo. The logo simply includes the iconic “Envelope M,” without the word “Gmail.”
2020:
In 2020 October, with the rebranding Gmail logo became stronger, more eye-catching and incorporated with other Google logos. The iconic white and red envelope is replaced by a stylized letter “M”, standing for “Mail”, in the official Google colors — blue, red, yellow, and green. The letter is formed by four segments, and two of them (blue and red) are overlapping.
Evolution of Gmail Logo
Throughout the evolution of the Gmail logo one thing that is noticed is Google never changed it as a whole, rather they have taken a most noticeable and highlighting section to the next logo and changing slightly with each version they have stayed with the same color scheme throughout the journey.
References:
https://1000logos.net/gmail-logo/
https://www.theverge.com/2012/1/26/2742560/gmail-logo-designed-night-before-service-launched
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Gmail