Product Sans

Product Sans
Category	Sans-serif
Classification	Geometric
Foundry	Google
Date created	September 1, 2015; 9 years ago
License	Proprietary
Design based on	Futura; Neuzeit Grotesk ; Tempo; Avenir

Product Sans is a contemporary geometric sans-serif typeface created by Google for branding purposes.^[2]^[3] It replaced the old Google logo on September 1, 2015. As Google's branding was becoming more apparent on a multitude of kinds of devices, Google sought to adapt its design so that its logo could be portrayed in constrained spaces and remain consistent for its users across platforms.

Design

The design team wanted to retain the simple and approachable styles in previous logos but also include geometric forms. It has been suggested that the design of Product Sans is inspired by Futura.^[4] The most notable difference between the two is the double-storey 'a', which was implemented to contrast the circular shapes of the other characters.^[5] Product Sans prefers to end the stroke terminals at about 45 degrees, with the cut off being perpendicular to the tangent of the stroke.

Slight optical corrections were also made to the geometric forms. The uppercase "G" has its circular shape pulled inwards slightly where it meets the crossbar. The counters of the '6', '8', and '9' are almost perfect circles. These visual corrections were made for legibility.

License

Product Sans is proprietary and was not released under an open source license.^[6]

Usage

The present Google logo is based on Product Sans. Slight modifications do exist in the logo compared to the typeface; the most noticeable is the slanted 'e'. The differences between the logo and Product Sans allows for distinction between the Google logotype and product name.^[2] Product Sans is mainly used in the text of Google's numerous services' logotypes such as Maps, Drive, News, and Earth. The font is also used on the Google Store,^[7] and in some versions of Android.

Variations

In 2018, Google created Google Sans, a size-optimized version of Product Sans used as the display font of Google's customized and adapted version of Material Design, the "Google Material Theme".^[8]^[9]

Sometime between 2018 and 2020, Google also created Google Sans Display, a variation of Google Sans.^[10]

In 2020, Google introduced Google Sans Text, yet another variation of Google Sans featured in some used products, with the most notable difference being the added spur on the capital letter "G".^[11]

References

^ "Google Product Sans License". Google. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Evolving the Google Identity". Google Design. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
^ Swanner, Nate (September 2015). "Google created an entirely new typeface (Product Sans) for its snappy logo redesign". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
^ "What Font is the New Google Logo? - Design for Hackers". Design for Hackers. 2015-09-01. Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
^ "Product Sans Specimen" (PDF). Google Inc. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
^ "Google Fonts: license for Product Sans". Archived from the original on 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
^ "Google Store". Googe Store. Archived from the original on 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
^ Hall, Stephen (9 May 2018). "Now we know: Google Sans is actually a size-optimized version of Product Sans". 9to5Google. Archived from the original on 14 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
^ "How Google created a custom Material theme". Material Design. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
^ "Downloads | Google Fiber Brand Guidelines". fiber-brand.appspot.com. Archived from the original on 2021-05-20. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
^ Li, Abner (2021-05-20). "Google apps are beginning to adopt 'Google Sans Text'". 9to5Google. Archived from the original on 2021-05-20. Retrieved 2021-05-20.