The Google logo; Perfectly imperfect
Why the G isn’t a perfect circle
A recent question posted on Reddit about why the G isn’t a perfect circle led to a crash course in graphic design fundamentals. The question, posted by maxt0r implied that this logo was a result of an error on googles part, when actually, as all designers already know, the G is perfectly imperfect. Let me explain.
On the face of it, the logo has all kind of imperfections.
But Google isn't sloppy, in fact, they are OCD level perfectionists. The google logo G uses ‘optimal balancing’. As Reddit user, alexandercecil, explains well here:
“Our eyes and brains are imperfect things. They are very good at what they are supposed to do, but identifying perfect geometry is not one of those things. Instead, our brains pick out rough shapes in our field of vision and quickly identify them. That is why you can get freaked out and mistake a hoodie draped over the back of a dining room chair as a real person for a moment.
Taking a perfect circle and changing it, like cutting out a section and adding a line to make it resemble a letter, can make that perfect shape look like it is not a perfect shape. In this case, it makes the perfect circle look elongated. If you stare at it and concentrate, you can see the difference, but reading and logos are not about staring and concentrating. Both rely on that quick shape recognition, so you want to use a shape that looks round at first glance, not one that actually is round.”
Scholars would be quick to point out that historically, many things are purposefully made imperfect in order to be more pleasing to the eye, like how Athenians built their columns so they bulged slightly outward at the centre. A more recent example would be how the Nintendo logo isn’t symmetric either:
The hundreds of Redditors arguing on the Reddit thread could have saved themselves a lot of debating time if they just did a little research. Google openly explain why their logo is the way it is:
“The Google G is directly derived from the logotype “G,” but uses increased visual weight to stand up at small sizes and contexts where it needs to share space with other elements. Designed on the same grid as our product iconography, the circular shape was optically refined to prevent a visual “overbite” at the point where the circular form meets the crossbar. The color proportions convey the full spectrum of the logotype and are sequenced to aid eye movement around the letterform”
Seasoned designers will already know why the logo is the way it is, but for the rest of us mere mortals, this serves as a nice little crash course on logo design.
