Google Maps new colours upset some, together with former designer

If you wish to spark a good-hearted debate on the workplace water cooler, ask your coworkers what they consider the brand new Google Maps colour scheme.

The brand new replace, which has been out for weeks, was a lightning rod for on-line banter over the week of Thanksgiving journey. The prevailing opinion: Persons are mad in regards to the new colours.

The roads at the moment are grey as an alternative of yellow and our bodies of water are teal as an alternative of a deeper blue. Parks traded of their inexperienced for mint.

“It feels colder, less accurate and less human,” former Google Maps designer Elizabeth Laraki wrote on X (previously Twitter) final week. Her submit additionally highlighted methods she believed Google Maps might clear up its consumer interface.

“If you’re gonna go through such a significant shift that is very noticeable to people, it seemed an interesting choice to focus so much on making these very noticeable dramatic changes to the map tiles themselves but still leave all the crud on top of the map that is there,” Laraki instructed CNBC.

Laraki additionally stated that it felt “more similar to Apple Maps coloring than Google Maps coloring.”

Laraki was not alone, as others took to X and Reddit to precise their frustration with the brand new colours. Some agreed with Laraki’s stance on them being chilly, whereas others had been upset that there was not sufficient distinction between the brand new colours.

“We’re always thinking about how to make Google Maps more accurately reflect the real world. We designed our updates based on extensive research and feedback from users — with a goal of making the map easier to use and understand. For example, the roads are now darker to look more like actual roads and provide a better canvas for helpful details like lanes,” stated a Google spokesperson in an electronic mail.

Laraki additionally stated that it was a dramatic change to make with out making a transparent public assertion in regards to the causes behind the brand new modifications.

The net boards had a choose few sticking up for the brand new replace, although they had been dramatically outnumbered.

Google Maps has come out with quite a few new updates during the last month, together with new ways to find things to do and use emojis, nonetheless none have obtained as a lot opinionated consideration as the brand new colours.