Google Chrome: Hey, That Logo Looks Vaguely Familiar

By  |  Monday, September 1, 2008 at 6:39 pm

(UPDATE! I’m conducting a poll about Chrome–please go here to take it, and to get a recap of all of Technologizer’s Chrome coverage.)

Google has posted an official online version of the Scott McCloud comic book introducing Chrome, its new browser, and the cover sports the Chrome logo. The logo reminds All Things Digital’s John Paczowski of a favorite gadget of the past, but I was also reminded, less literally, of a prominent logo of the present:

No, the Chrome and Windows Vista logos are not true twins, but they’re both round and shiny, with the same color scheme–red, green, yellow, and blue. (Okay, looking at the Vista logo, that’s more of an orange than a red, but close enough.) If you’d told me that the Chrome logo was what Microsoft had come up with for Windows Seven, I’d have believed you.

Microsoft has long used the colors as shorthand for Windows and related products such as Office. But I didn’t draw any immediate association between the Chrome logo and Google branding in general until I realized that it uses the same colors as the Google logo:

On some level, it probably makes sense for the Chrome logo to look a bit like the Windows one. Much of the punditry concerning Chrome is looking at it as a threat not to Internet Explorer so much as to Windows itself–a platform for Web-based applications that might, over time at least, do some of the things that we expect an operating system to do at the moment. You gotta wonder whether it’s just a coincidence that Chrome is launching first on Windows, or whether Google is in fact a lot more interested in introducing Chrome to Microsoft customers than to Mac fans or Linux types. (Of course, it’s more likely that there’s nothing nefarious going on: If most of the world uses Windows, it’s completely logical to get the Windows version of Chrome out first.)

Meanwhile, as I was writing this post, I was watching MSNBC coverage of Hurricane Gustav out of one corner of my eye–and happened to see an ad for Alli, a weight-loss products. Its logo looks like this:

And I just remembered the logo for Zoho, one of my favorite suites of Web-based apps:

Popular color scheme, huh?

 
30 Comments


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20 Comments For This Post

  1. mehrshad mansouri Says:
    September 1st, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    actually, it looks more like a modern-day Simon Says – http://tinyurl.com/simonsays

  2. Xanthir, FCD Says:
    September 2nd, 2008 at 9:21 am

    It’s clearly the most advanced Pokeball ever made.

  3. Kosso Says:
    September 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 am

    I really like the chrome logo. Very tasty and shiny 😉

    Regarding the use of primary colours, they’re usually used to denote ‘simplicity’ as they tend to be the first colours we learn as children.

  4. Geoffrey Dorne Says:
    September 2nd, 2008 at 11:25 am

    My opinion about the logo of Chrome : http://graphism.fr/post/48378893/la-1ere-erreur-de-google-chrome

  5. CharlieJ Says:
    September 2nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    The Chrome logo reminds me of Simon Sez (or something like that). It’s a handheld game that plays sounds; with the objective of the player mimicking the sounds by touching the colored panels.

    http://www.goodyblog.com/playing_house/2007/11/simon-sez.html

  6. conlan Says:
    September 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm

    lol it does look like a pokeball…but I’m using it regardless…

  7. iwebie Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 am

    I have installed Google Chrome and found browsing fun with its simple Gtalk like Simplicity. I’ll stick with FireFox for now until Chrome gets some useful plugins to enhance it.

    Read more below

    http://www.iwebie.com/googles-chrome-browser-the-iefirefox-killer

  8. mcalex Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 2:18 am

    lol primary active colours: red, green, blue
    primary passive colours: red, yellow, blue.
    So, the author has noticed that businesses use the primary colours on their logos. Good work

  9. Benedict Says:
    September 5th, 2008 at 8:30 am
  10. Benedict Says:
    September 5th, 2008 at 8:31 am

    Making story of Google Chrome Logo (exclusive)
    http://blog.thinkfree.com

  11. Jack Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 10:12 am

    As far it doesn’t support Google toolbar, its not as compatible as windows IE 😉

    Jack, http://seoapplied.blogspot.com

  12. Ed Oswald Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    Ah yes, Alli. You ever read the list of side effects for that stuff? Eeek 🙂

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    October 18th, 2008 at 1:49 am

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  14. Jamshed Akhter Says:
    May 12th, 2011 at 12:27 am

    yes it very much familiar with the microsoft but it also looks good
    Logo Design

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    May 27th, 2011 at 4:11 am

    google introduce nice design

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