Google just sort-of announced a new project, Google Wallet.
I don’t have a lot of thoughts on the project itself (yet), in part because it isn’t out yet, and in part because it’s for Android (not the iPhone). But I do have a few thoughts about the logo.
It’s great.
The Colors
It incorporates the “Google palette” well, with each section of the band transitioning to the next color in the sequence. (Somewhat reminiscent of the Google Wave logo, but better.)
The Wirelessticity
Part of the appeal of Google Wallet is that it’s going to be wireless. You’ve already got your phone in-hand (or just about), and it’ll be able to communicate wirelessly, using a newish technology called Near Field Communication. (Side note: I can’t figure out why nobody’s using a hyphen on that. Not sure why it isn’t “near-field”?)
Anyway, the logo helps convey that there’s some sort of radio wave magic involved.
The User Experience
Those emanating radio waves aren’t a stand-alone element, though. They’re all connected. And my understanding of how the tech works is that the user’s going to (physically) wave their device (back and forth) near the NFC payment sensor. And I suspect that the physical waving action is going to end up looking a lot like the connected lines of the logo.
Perhaps these are all obvious-on-the-face elements of the logo, but I wanted to note them, to comment on them, and to commend whoever at Google’s responsible for creating it. It’s one of the better tech logos I’ve seen in a few years.
