Making magic for a new generation, Google Gemini

For Google, Gemini is their next leap from turning queries into conversations, succeeding Bard with a promise of a new kind of exploration. Gemini pays homage to its roots, 25 years of search heritage distilled into a spark that celebrates a legacy of connecting minds with information while looking ahead to what AI could unlock.

Partnering with global design studio Porto Rocha, their goal was to make Gemini the Google Magic for a new generation. A goal that required Google to reclaim the Spark, once a static marker of AI and morph it into a living icon, capable of transforming in real time, mirroring the adaptive nature of AI intelligence.

By centering the Spark in a new motion system, they refreshed an identity that balances human curiosity with machine magic. The result is a confident, connected experience that invites users to ask, explore and uncover what’s on their minds, guiding users toward discovery with purposeful intent.

Porto Rocha embraced the Spark, an emblem now ubiquitous in AI discourse, and repositioned it as the starting point for every journey with Gemini.

In shaping Gemini’s identity, clarity and approachability were paramount. Google Sans Medium and Regular anchored the wordmark in familiar yet modern typography, reinforcing continuity with Google’s broader ecosystem. The Spark’s four points echoed this type choice, each luminous edge suggested directionality without constraining movement, symbolizing both human input and AI output in harmony.

An updated gradient palette, stretching from vibrant sky blue to deep indigo, creates a spectrum of emotion. Optimism at one end and depth at the other. The palette adds dimension to every touchpoint, ensuring that Gemini can stand out across light and dark modes without sacrificing legibility. Subtle irregularities in letterforms echoed the Spark’s organic imperfection, softening the precision often associated with AI.

Visual Identity

At the core of Gemini’s visual language is a confident, pointed aesthetic that celebrates helpfulness and clarity. To foster a sense of monumentality and ease of interaction, Porto Rocha introduced oversized UI elements with buttons and icons displayed larger than in prior Google products. Every shape and shadow is now calibrated to feel both substantial and human, grounding the interface in a more tactile reality

The Spark itself features animated gradients that pulsate and shift, breathing life into static layouts and reinforcing Gemini’s sense of magic. Imagery across the system, from product screenshots to marketing campaigns are framed within Spark-shaped masks, unifying diverse visuals under a single motif. To ensure that Gemini’s identity feels purposeful, and directs attention without overwhelming users.

The rebrand’s flexibility is evident in its ability to scale, from tiny app icons on mobile screens to sprawling out-of-home ads. In larger formats, the gradient gains subtle texture, hinting at vast horizons and cosmic depth. In compact contexts such as browser tabs, the Spark simplifies to a single flat color, to maintain recognizability at any size.

Porto Rocha’s system guidelines detail clear rules for spacing, padding, and motion timing, this enables teams across Google to implement the identity consistently. These design choices reflecte the duality at the heart of Gemini. Balancing human creativity with machine precision and exploration with clear direction.

Motion Design

Motion wasn’t an afterthought, it was the language that gave Gemini its soul. Porto Rocha developed a morphing motion system where the Spark animates from a single, heroic flare to multi-step explorations revealing nested layers of content. Early demos showcased the Spark gliding along interactions, tracing gestures and signaling transitions, each animation reinforcing the idea that AI is a responsive partner.

This system is also remixable, product teams can adapt the same motion principles to different features, ensuring coherence while promoting creativity. Motion guidelines provided define easing curves, duration scales and layering rules, allowing designers to craft stories, whether a prompt expanding into detailed results or a simple tap that sparks a burst of light.

Even motion in typography was considered, headings can gently fade in letter by letter, taking the Spark’s energy to highlight key messages. When applied to data visualizations, the gradients stream across charts, drawing eyes along trends as the Spark traces along insights. In the mobile app, background illustrations pulse in the periphery, hinting at infinite possibilities without distracting from the main interface. Collectively these gestures are an engaging, approachable experience that feels less like software and more like a conversation. It tells the user that intelligent systems can listen, adapt and surprise.

Campaign Design

Porto Rocha recognized that a brand lives in moments far beyond product. To launch Gemini, they crafted a campaign built on “Can’t find the words? Just ask”, which pairs dramatic environments (gleaming metal tunnels and urban facades) with the Spark’s glow, telling us that AI is ready wherever inspiration strikes. Out-of-home installs use large-scale vinyl murals where Sparks sliced through cityscapes, inviting passersby to engage with Gemini on their phones. Social media filters remixed the Spark into AR experiences, letting users plant digital lights in real spaces, a playful extension of the identity into user content.

Editorial layouts for launch materials adopt asymmetrical grids and Spark-shaped cutouts, combining poetry about exploration alongside product screenshots. Porto Rocha partnered with illustrators to create bespoke artwork that interpreted “magic” through organic strokes and washes, each collaboration adding new levels to Gemini’s world. Even the developer documentation embraces the identity, code snippets highlighted by gradient underlines and API references anchored with mini animated Sparks. This world-building ensures that Gemini’s brand feels as alive in marketing decks as it does in the terminal.

Speaking with Three Voices

To unify these layers, a verbal identity was created with three distinct voices, 1. the user’s curious inquiry, 2. the product’s clear guidance and 3. the brand’s warm invitation. In placeholder text and button labels the voice is conversational and open-ended (“What do you want to explore today?”). The product voice provides direct feedback (“Here are your top answers”). The brand voice creates an overarching narrative, inviting users to “ignite their curiosity” and “discover their potential”.

This narrative mirrors the Gemini journey. From imperfect prompts (user), to helpful intelligence (product), to boundless possibilities (brand). Porto Rocha’s tone guidelines detail how to shift seamlessly between voices to ensure tone consistency across interfaces, social media and press releases.

Looking ahead, the new Gemini is flexible and gives Google a foundation to grow and adapt with as Gemini’s capabilities continue to expand, whether through new models, languages or integrations. In crafting this identity, Porto Rocha delivered more than a fresh look for Google Gemini, they forged a living, breathing system ready to guide users into the next era of AI discovery.