Almighthy Google searches for a new identity

Google's new logo has been parodied, criticized as being too childish and subject to numerous thinkpieces explaining the psychological and design principles that explain why we "hate" it.
But look past all the fuss over the logo's design and new font (Product Sans, for those keeping track) and you may find something more important: a hint at how one of the most influential technology companies in the world sees its future.

The bright — and, sure, childish — new branding offers the first clear glimpse of how Google intends to better position itself in a global market that favors smaller screens and just as importantly how it makes big strategy decisions as a subsidiary of the newly created parent company Alphabet, which was announced only weeks before the logo change.
In the early years, Google's cofounder and CEO Larry Page scrutinized changes to the logo, making it difficult to push through tweaks, let alone a sweeping overhaul, according to one Google insider who requested anonymity. It may not be coincidence then that the logo change was pushed through after Page relinquished his role as Google CEO in favor of a more nebulous position running Alphabet and named Sundar Pichai as his successor.
"This is Google acknowledging that it is a global company, where they are not just designing for the most powerful screens on the planet, but also for the $100 phone. That's a valid reason for changing it, and under Sundar as CEO, you can make that argument and prevail," says Wesley Chan, a longtime former Google executive.

The new branding, as Google explained in a lengthy behind-the-scenes blog post, is about "evolving the Google identity" to move from the desktop-focused world it launched for in 1998 to today's "multi-device, multi-screen world." In order to do that, "hundreds" of Google employees worked to create a simpler, streamlined approach that functions as well on an iPhone, Android device or smartwatch as it does on one of the less glamorous $100 phones that Chan alludes to in an emerging market like India.
Pichai, long viewed as the CEO in waiting, developed a reputation as a good manager who avoided being dragged down by company politics and successfully shepherded tough, crucial product areas like Chrome and Android. Now he's arguably proven himself effective in managing major branding changes as well.

It's a long overdue change, and one we hear had been discussed for at least a year. Even the designer behind the original Google logo expressed surprise that it hadn't happened sooner.
"I was expecting some changes after Alphabet," Ruth Kedar, the original designer, told Mashable in an earlier interview. "There have been a lot of changes in the company and the product line and technology and the media in which we display... So I’ve been surprised that they haven’t done something beforehand."
One source close to the company said the logo change was not related to the recent corporate restructuring. But former employees and industry watchers we spoke with raised some doubts about that.
The goal of creating a larger holding company, according to numerous insiders, is to transition Page away from the day-to-day chore of running Google to more innovative tasks as well as to retain key employees with more C-suite titles — and perhaps pave the way to make more blockbuster billion-dollar acquisitions that can live on as standalone businesses.
Yet, that shift may also create the impression of a diminished "Google."
"Google used to be an umbrella to all these things. Now it’s narrower. Its identity has changed," says Jan Dawson, an analyst who covers consumer technology companies for Jackdaw Research. "As the meaning of Google changes, the branding needs to change with that."
More than that, without careful messaging, Google could come to be seen as something less than innovative as the riskiest, headline-grabbing pursuits take place instead under Alphabet.
"A danger of creating a portfolio company is on the branding side you don’t want to create the image that the mother ship of Google —Google search, YouTube, etc — is representing a steady state while the edgy new stuff is at the parent company," says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management. "This branding helps the image of keeping the revolution forever young."