Google Maps’ controversial shake-up is coming to more apps despite people saying it’s ‘ugly’ & ‘making their eyes bleed’
THE Google Maps update that introduced an “ugly” new colour scheme has been extended to even more apps.
Last year, Google unveiled a revamped colour scheme for its hugely popular navigation app.
But as with all updates – not all of them are winners.
Google has switched roads from white to grey.
Water has now taken on a paler shade of blue, while forested areas use a much darker shade of green to before.
The route indicator has also been retouched to a much brighter blue.
At the time, social media was alight with complaints about the update.
One person joked that the change had been “making my eyes bleed”.
Former Google Maps designer, Elizabeth Laraki, even went as far as to say that it makes the app feel “colder, less accurate, and less human,” in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Admittedly, I do think major roads, traffic, and trails stand out more now,” she added.
“But the colors of water and parks/open spaces blend together.
“And to me, the palette feels colder and more computer generated.”
Now those changes are coming to maps, powered by the Google Maps Platform, that appear in third-party apps, AndroidAuthority first reported.
There will almost always be backlash to the unveiling of a shiny new design
According to a recently updated developers guide, Google said new map styling – including the fresh colour palette – is “coming soon” to the Google Maps Platform.
The company added that all map styles will be “automatically updated in March 2025.”
Despite the early complaints, the new Google Maps colour scheme looks set to stay.
It's a human psyche thing, not an app's problem
By Millie Turner, Technology & Science Reporter
Every few years or so, apps go under the knife for a facelift, often changing colour theme shades, fonts, and layouts.
Then an executive comes out with a statement about how ‘contemporary’ the change is, and how it was ‘designed with users in mind’.
But apps, and the folks behind them, need to wise up to one simple fact: people don’t like change.
And there will almost always be backlash to the unveiling of a shiny new design.
We all know how it feels: opening up an app you use everyday, awash with that disgusted, frustrated feeling as your muscle memory is tripping you up over a new layout.
Whether its an “ugly” new WhatsApp update, a Facebook redesign that simply looks “gross” or a Twitter (now X) switch-up that literally gives its users headaches – people like what they know.
Human psychology plays a big role in this.
It’s obviously unreasonable to expect app’s to fade into relics of their past.
So what’s the remedy?
Time – time for consumers to have a little kick and a scream before settling into the new norm.