Google’s Gemini Just Got a Makeover—And Maybe a Mascot Too
Google’s latest rebrand trades flat design for sparkle—and in Japan, even dreams up a rainbow monster. The AI may be getting smarter, but its branding just got a lot more huggable.
On June 25, Google rolled out the latest version of Gemini, its flagship AI. The update came with more than just technical improvements—it arrived with a sparkle-shaped logo, a softened color system, and a quiet emotional pivot. Bard was well and truly over. Gemini had arrived. And this time, it came with vibes.
The redesign swaps flat utility for something rounder, warmer, and more emotionally fluent. The icon adopts Google’s signature red, blue, green, and yellow—but through a softened, more tactile lens. It’s built to stand out on cluttered home screens, with a larger footprint, curved edges, and a slight gradient that nods to the stylized, dimensional icons now appearing across the Google suite. Gemini doesn’t just look like a product anymore—it looks like it belongs. Maybe even like it wants to be liked.
“Gemini doesn’t just look like a product anymore—it looks like it belongs. Maybe even like it wants to be liked.”
From Bard to Brand
Where ChatGPT is still buttoned-up and interface-free, Claude presents as a cerebral conversationalist—measured, reflective, and slightly aloof, and Meta is busy simulating pop culture personas. But Google is trying something different: it’s making AI feel familiar. Gemini’s new visual language is less like an assistant and more like a character reveal. And in Japan, that instinct went fully literal.
To commemorate the rebrand, Google Japan invited Gemini to generate a mascot: a rainbow-furred, anime-style creature with sparkling eyes and pastel limbs. It’s not integrated into the product (yet), but it captures the visual spirit of the new logo perfectly—soft, friendly, and emotionally legible. The kind of character that feels equally at home in a keychain gacha machine, a bedtime snuggle, or an iOS widget.
“Google’s mascot may not be product-integrated—but it’s emotionally on-brand.”
Mascots, Toys & Emotional UX
This design moment doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We’re deep into a cultural era of character obsession: Labubu is a collectible, Jellycat’s moody plushies are status objects, and Sonny Angels are Instagram shorthand. These aren’t toys. They’re emotional proxies—small comforts for an overstimulated world.
Gemini’s rainbow mascot taps into the same current. It’s not about capability—it’s about resonance. A character doesn’t make AI smarter. But it might make it safer. Or at least friendlier. Or, at the very least, something we don’t mind sharing a screen with.
“Characters are doing what dropdown menus can’t: they create connection.”
Design as Disarmament
Google Japan’s mascot moment isn’t just sweet—it’s strategic. As AI becomes more powerful and more omnipresent, trust isn’t built through intelligence alone. It’s built through tone. A sparkle logo. A softly blinking face. A design language that doesn’t shout "advanced"—but gently says “I see you.”
Visual softness becomes the first layer of emotional onboarding. And cute, right now, is a Trojan horse for adoption.
“Visual softness becomes the first layer of emotional onboarding.”
What This Signals
Gemini’s makeover hints at a broader shift. We might be toying with the plushcore phase of artificial intelligence. Tools are getting smarter—but also softer. Visually, emotionally, culturally. Characters—real or speculative—are doing what dropdown menus can’t: they create connection. And that tells us something—not about the machines, but about ourselves.
The more sophisticated our tools become, the more we crave something human in return. Not just utility, but empathy. Not just precision, but play. No matter how powerful the tech, we still want to see something of ourselves reflected back—emotion, vulnerability, maybe even a little charm.
“No matter how advanced the tech, we still want to see something of ourselves reflected back.”
We don’t fear intelligence. We fear disconnection. So we give our smartest systems sparkles and sidekicks—because deep down, we want to be in relationship with the things that shape our lives.
“We don’t fear intelligence. We fear disconnection.”
Maybe Amazon was onto something bigger than it realized when it named its assistant Alexa. We’ve always wanted our tech to talk to us. Now, we want it to feel with us too. For AI to truly integrate, it can’t just be accurate or efficient. It has to feel alive—or at least like something you'd let live on your home screen.
