Despite Android’s ubiquity, Google Play was struggling to stay relevant and top of mind among users. As an expansive marketplace for apps and more, Google Play is one of the most distinctive products in the Google / Android portfolio, but its place in Google’s ecosystem was unclear. The brand became fragmented across what it offers, who it partners with, and where it shows up in the world. At the same time, it lacked the comprehensive global brand standards necessary to succeed across continents.

Google Play needed a clear vision for its purpose, a simplified brand architecture, and a refreshed identity that leverages Google’s strengths. We set out to develop a brand that would live up to the spirit of its name, and inspire new behaviors, particularly discovery. Our goal was to establish Google Play as more than a marketplace, but a celebration of––and a reminder that there’s always––more to play.

We saw untapped potential in Google Play’s legacy logo, commonly referred to as “the Prism.” Prisms are active and multidimensional, just like discovery. And we know that users appreciate experiences that uncover something interesting or help them achieve something new. To build on that understanding, we shifted from a static logo into a dynamic, prismatic behavior––and designed a visual, verbal, and behavioral identity that always reveals new sides of what people love.

Here, we’re celebrating how Google Play allows users to explore more without bounds, never putting people or their favorite content in boxes based on ‘fandoms’ or categories. Just as people’s interests are rich, ever-changing, and multidimensional, there's more than just one side to Google Play. The goal here isn’t for users to see themselves, but to see how people, as diverse and interesting as they are, experience content in diverse and interesting ways on Google Play.

We started by shifting the Prism from a static icon to a rich, playful, dynamic, and multidimensional behavior to reveal the many sides of what people love.

To emphasize the spectrum of needs that Google Play fulfills, we expanded the color palette, refracting the four colors into complementary options using Google’s Material design system. This allowed us to support developers’ content more naturally, and ensure Play has a distinctive look.

The Prismatic Grid is an extension of how people’s passions can be both complementary and contradictory. The grid is designed to be flexible, suit core communication needs, and seamlessly integrate multiple aspects of partner content.

Our brand voice was crafted to engage users personally: introducing them to what’s new, while keeping their preferences in mind. To make sure that users get more out of every moment, we prompted behavior that prioritized user-first interaction across all marketing materials.

The new brand identity reintroduced a legacy Google product to the world, bringing clarity to Play’s role within the Google Ecosystem. We created comprehensive global brand standards that worked both in demonstrating and implementing the new identity, giving Google Play the necessary tools to succeed across continents. The new systems and standards gave the brand a unified presence; resulting in one brand, rebuilt as a single operating system.

The new brand identity was integrated globally, adapting across product interfaces, marketing campaigns, internal events, developer conferences, and everywhere else Play shows up in the world.