Agreeing with a recent post on #reddit: when visual designers get pressured to choosing aesthetics over function, us users lose. #Usability #UX #Design
@aeveltstra The corporate brand and usability could have been together. There's no inherit conflict there IMO and I do think there is value in having a consistent color scheme across a company's different applications.
@aeveltstra But they chose the corporate brand over everything else and lost the usability in the process. What the hell did that camera become? That's not a camera anymore. And that calendar? That's just a square with the corporate colors.
@aeveltstra i'd even call this uniformity over aesthetics. the specific aesthetic works a few times but then breaks down hard
@aeveltstra
“ the boss really loves the chocolate cake. can you add chcolate to the whole menu?”
“even the steak and salad? uh, okay”
@aeveltstra This is not about aesthetics. This is a growth dark pattern. Google wants you to confuse these icons and accidentally launch one Google app when you meant to launch another.
I bet these icons A/B tested better for engagement.
Also helps that you can't remove the Google apps that you don't use from your Android phone, they're just gonna keep getting in your way because someone somewhere one day might give in and start to use them.
@aeveltstra Completely agree. When I scroll through icons on my mobile, I need to read which app is which, because icons are meaningless. Only few represent their function.
Firaas 
@aeveltstra Google Meet is completely different that Google hangouts! But I definitely see the trend
Server run by the main developers of the project 
It is not focused on any particular niche interest - everyone is welcome as long as you follow our code of conduct!
@aeveltstra To me that looks more like prioritizing the corporate brand than prioritizing aesthetics.