Emily Goldberg, Staff Writer

 

As a company, you always run the risk of your audience disapproving of change. For Google, this is exactly what happened.

On Sept. 1, Google unveiled its new logo in their biggest redesign since 1999.

In January 1996, “BackRub”, the original Google, was born. It wasn’t until late 1997 that creators Larry Page and Sergey Brin dropped the BackRub name and the Google that we know today started to evolve.

The distinguished logo has been redesigned six times by adding shadows, serifs, colors, and exclamations marks but the backlash this particular 2015 logo is getting seems to be greater than what was arguably the biggest redesign the company has been faced with since 1999.

While I believe it’s necessary for companies to update their styles to fit with the current times, the logo of a timeless company that has fueled so much of what society has developed into, should not have been altered.

The logo stands for much more than the first thing you see when you enter the website – it’s the company’s image. Google is not only a search engine but also news, emails, books, images, TV, alerts, and a social catalyst that has contributed to so much of what makes up our generation.

As the millennials were born into the age of technology, they began to mold what our future looks like today. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think Generation Y deserves to be considered the “next generation” or the world’s “future leaders” when I think we’re starting to make a change in the world right now.

A big part of that change is because of the way we incorporate social media and technology into our everyday lives.

A classic and comprehensive business like Google set the foundation that got us here. As we were growing up, Google was doing just the same and expanding into everything it is today.

The issue that I have is not that the logo was redesigned but rather how demeaning this new design is to the unstoppable Google. Yes, it does still incorporate the trademark blue, red, yellow, and green colored lettering but changing to a sans-serif, chalk board-esque font gives a much more juvenile feel than it deserves.

As technology is growing and getting more advanced, Google should be catering to those who have been evolving with them from the beginning, Generation Y.

This new Google logo is completely directed towards a younger audience and I’m afraid it will begin to lose the image that was spent so long trying to build. For 11 years, Google had the same bold and classic logo and the changes made since then have only been minor. Why change something we’re all used to?

Again, I am not against the change that Google puts into its company in order for it to grow, but I am against a logo so different from its original image that it abandons its true audience.