Google Forms New Logo: Comparing It With the Previous Version

What the Google Forms logo question is really asking

The current Google Forms logo is the purple product mark used across Google Workspace: a simplified sheet that reads as a form, with a small set of white field lines inside a compact, optically squared icon. The previous version is the earlier Forms identity from the G Suite and classic Google Docs family: the same purple product color and the same form-document metaphor, drawn as a more literal sheet, often taller, with denser interior lines and, in several widely circulated versions, a folded corner shared with older document icons.

The thing under discussion is the product icon, which is the distinctive logo. The words “Google Forms” sit beside or below that mark in Google’s product-name type; they are a lockup, not a separate consumer wordmark. This comparison covers those two official-looking product marks as they appear in the app, Workspace switchers and marketing. It does not cover unofficial redraws, marketplace icon packs, or any right to reuse the trademark. A file that looks like a logo, or that is saved as a vector, does not by itself prove official geometry or permission to use it.

Google iterates Workspace icons over time, so “new” here means the current simplified Workspace Forms mark, and “previous” means the earlier, more literal form-document construction. Some devices and archived screenshots still show the older drawing. That is a version-matching problem for designers and writers, and it is the practical reason to compare the two.

Meaningful differences between the previous and current marks

The two logos are versions of one identity, so the useful comparison is against shared criteria: geometry, color, typography, spacing, small-size performance and how editable the asset is in real production work. Visual notes below describe commonly circulated official product icons under ordinary screen viewing. Exact path counts, corner radii, hex values and stroke weights were not measured from supplied vector files, and scalability claims were not lab-tested for this article.

Criterion	Previous logo	Current logo	What it changes in practice
Geometry	Taller document rectangle; more interior field lines; some versions use a folded corner.	More compact sheet, optically fitted to the Workspace icon grid; fewer interior marks; corners and padding aligned with sibling apps.	The new mark matches today’s Docs, Sheets and Slides family. The previous mark matches older product shots and archived UI.
Color	Flat, single-fill purple as the Forms product color.	Still purple-first. Some current app-icon treatments add a light value change so the sheet feels slightly faceted.	Purple remains the recognition cue. Recoloring either mark breaks the product lockup. Pull exact fills from official artwork; they are not specified here.
Typography	Product name in Google’s sans product type, paired with the older icon.	Same name and type family; the redesign is the icon, not a new wordmark.	If you are replacing a lockup, swap the mark and keep the product-name treatment consistent with the UI era you are matching.
Spacing	Looser padding around a taller sheet; interior lines sit closer together.	Tighter, systematic padding; fewer field lines with more air inside the sheet.	The current mark sits more evenly in a square app tile. Mixed lockups (old sheet, new padding) look like a mismatch.
Scalability	Fine interior lines and a dog-ear can collapse at favicon and 16–32 px sizes.	Simpler silhouette is built for small tiles; remaining risk is the white lines merging into a solid purple slab.	Untested at specific pixel sizes here. Export and check 16, 24, 32, 48 and full-size app icons before shipping.
Asset editability	Older SVGs and PNGs circulate widely; many are unofficial traces.	Current official icons follow the Workspace grid; unofficial “vector” files still appear in packs.	An .svg filename does not prove official paths. Availability does not grant reuse. Treat third-party redraws as approximations until checked against current official artwork.

Geometry and the form metaphor

Both marks communicate “this is a form” with a sheet and field lines. That metaphor is the identity. The previous drawing leans literal: a portrait document, stacked question lines, and in several versions a folded corner that tied Forms to the old document-icon language. The current drawing keeps the sheet and the lines, then reduces them until the icon is a compact purple tile that can sit next to Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive without looking like a leftover from a different system.

Observable result: at medium and large sizes, both still read as Forms. At a glance in a crowded Workspace switcher, the current mark is easier to pair with its siblings because the outer proportion and corner language match. The previous mark is easier to date, which is useful when the job is a history, a migration screenshot or a recreation of an older interface.

Color, type and lockup

Purple is the product color in both versions. That is a documented Workspace color assignment, visible in the product UI, and it is the main cue that separates Forms from green Docs, green Sheets and yellow Slides. The previous icon typically uses one flat purple fill. The current icon remains purple-dominant; where a second value appears, it is a modeling of the sheet, not a move into Google’s four-color G treatment. Editorial reading: the brand still wants Forms to be “the purple one.” Exact swatches belong in official assets, and they should be sampled from those files rather than guessed from a screenshot.

Typography is stable. The distinctive logo is the icon. When the product name is present, it follows Google’s product-name sans (the Google Sans / Product Sans family), in a dark or light value depending on the background. Choosing the new logo is a mark decision. It is not a type redesign of the words “Google Forms.”

Spacing, small sizes and vector work

Spacing is where the two versions feel different in a layout. The previous sheet needs more vertical room and looks cramped if forced into the current square app-icon padding. The current sheet is drawn for that square, with more interior air around fewer field lines. For a designer placing the mark next to other Workspace icons, the current version will optically align; the previous version will sit slightly tall or optically heavy unless you rebuild the padding around it.

Small-size behavior is the main production risk, and it is untested here as a pixel-level experiment. The working assumption, based on the geometry rather than a measured test, is that fewer interior details survive 16–32 px better. Both versions can still fail the same way: the white lines fill in, and the icon becomes an unlabeled purple rectangle. Anyone shipping favicons, toolbar icons or notification badges should render the actual asset at those sizes, on light and dark backgrounds, before treating either version as “safe.”

For vector logo work, treat official path data as the source of truth. A download labeled SVG, EPS or “vector logo” can be a traced PNG, a re-drawn approximation, or an outdated construction. File extension does not establish geometry. Public availability does not establish a license. Google’s product marks are trademarks; using them to represent the product in documentation, news or software UI is a brand-use question, separate from whether you can open the file in Illustrator or Figma.

Which version to use

Use the current Workspace Forms icon when the work must match today’s product: app stores, help articles, onboarding, slide decks about the live tool, and any lockup that sits beside current Docs, Sheets or Drive marks. Use the previous icon when the work is historical: a redesign timeline, an archived screenshot, or a UI that still showed the older sheet. If the audience will compare your graphic with the live app, the current mark is the one that will look correct.

• Match the icon to the product era you are describing; do not mix the old sheet with the current Workspace spacing system.
• Keep purple as the fill identity; a recolored Forms mark no longer reads as the product.
• Check official artwork for current paths and color; do not rebuild from memory or from a marketplace pack.
• Test the chosen asset at the sizes you will actually ship, including 16 px and 32 px, on light and dark grounds.
• If you only have a raster file, treat it as a picture of the logo. Trace work is an interpretation until it is checked against official vectors.

Gaps in this comparison: no official side-by-side vector pair was supplied, so corner radius, line weight and color values are not reported as measurements. Small-size and print performance are not reported as test results. Platform rollout can lag, so a phone, a browser extension or an old help page may still show the previous drawing after the current mark is standard elsewhere. When those details matter, inspect the live product and the current official asset kit for the platform you are targeting.