Taking a cue from jaded high school students and most college students, it turns out the Gmail logo was designed the night before Gmail launched. According to a post on Quora, Google designer from 2003 to 2008 Kevin Fox said that Gmail logo designer Dennis Hwang was up designing the logo literally the night before the product launched.
In the Quora post, Fox said that at the time, Hwang was responsible for most of the Google Doodles and other logo work, so one can assume that designing the Gmail logo was right up Hwang’s alley and he didn’t necessarily need months of designing logos he disliked, then going back to the drawing board.
Interestingly, Fox reveals that the initial logo was made in the usual Google font, called Catull, but the letter “A” was deemed awkward, so they used used Catull for the “G” to tie the logo together with the regular Google logo, then used Myriad Pro for the other letters, which they felt looked cleaner.
So, now every time you look at the Gmail logo, you’ll notice that the “G” doesn’t match with the rest of the letters, and you’ll be somewhat impressed that a designer came up with the subtly clever “M in an envelope” design the night before the product launched.
(via The Atlantic)
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