Colors play an important role in web design and digital marketing. The right color scheme can help attract users’ attention, convey the right mood or emotions, and align with a brand’s visual identity. Google has developed color palettes over the years that are widely used across its own products and services. Understanding Google’s color palettes can help designers and marketers make informed decisions when selecting colors for websites, logos, graphics, and more.
Google is one of the most influential technology companies in the world. Its products and services, like Search, Gmail, YouTube, Android, and Google Ads are used by billions of people. Google has carefully crafted color palettes for many of its brands and services over the years. While Google doesn’t publish official guidelines on using its colors, analyzing Google’s brands provides valuable insights into its color palette choices.
Some key benefits of using Google’s color palettes include:
- Brand recognition – Using colors associated with Google products helps reinforce brand recognition.
- Trust and credibility – Google’s brands are trusted by billions of users, the colors impart some of that credibility.
- Familiarity – Many users are already familiar with Google’s color palettes from regular Google product use.
- Accessibility – Google tends to choose colors that are accessible to users with visual impairments.
In this article, we’ll examine some of Google’s core brand color palettes and hexadecimal color codes. This information can help guide design and marketing product decisions to align with Google’s proven color schemes.
Google’s Primary Colors
Google’s primary color palette consists of blue, red, yellow and green. These colors appear across many Google brands and services including:
- Google Search – Green, Blue, Red, Yellow
- YouTube – Red, White
- Google Maps – Green, Red, Yellow, Blue
- Gmail – Red, White, Blue
- Google Drive – Blue, Red, Yellow, Green
- Google Ads- Green, Yellow
Here are the hexadecimal color codes for Google’s primary brand colors:
| Color | Hex Code |
|---|---|
| Google Blue | #4285F4 |
| Google Red | #EA4335 |
| Google Yellow | #FBBC05 |
| Google Green | #34A853 |
These primary colors form the basis of the Google brand. Using any combination of these colors will help reinforce the strong Google brand.
Google Search Color Palette
The Google search homepage and app features a distinct color scheme:
- White background
- Black and gray text
- Blue links
- Green search button
White space is prominent on the Google homepage to focus attention on the search bar. Gray text provides helpful information without distracting from search. The iconic blue links identify results clearly against the white background. The green search button prompts users to take action.
Reproducing this color palette in search landing pages or search-related projects can help associate your content with Google Search’s simplicity and effectiveness.
Google Search Color Codes
| Color | Hex Code |
|---|---|
| Google Blue Links | #1A0DAB |
| Google Green Button | #34A853 |
| Google Gray Text | #70757A |
| Background White | #FFFFFF |
YouTube Color Palette
YouTube uses a distinct red and white color palette:
- Red (#FF0000) – Primary brand color across logo, icons, buttons.
- White (#FFFFFF) – Background color.
- Black (#000000) – Text color.
This high contrast red and white color scheme creates a bold, energetic look aligned with YouTube’s video-centric brand. The color palette appears extensively across YouTube’s website and mobile apps.
Using a similar red and white color palette can help create visual association with YouTube’s Dynamism and high energy.
YouTube Color Codes
| Color | Hex Code |
|---|---|
| YouTube Red | #FF0000 |
| YouTube White | #FFFFFF |
| YouTube Black | #000000 |
Gmail Color Palette
Gmail uses a complementary palette of blues, reds, and whites:
- Red (#D14836) – Primary accent color.
- Blue (#4285F4) – Secondary accent color.
- White (#FFFFFF) – Primary background.
- Gray (#CCCCCC) – Secondary background.
This color scheme creates an upbeat, inviting mood that aligns with Gmail’s friendly email app brand. The red accents in particular help emails stand out against the white and gray backgrounds.
Consider using touches of red and blue against white or gray to suggest Gmail’s modern email app environment.
Gmail Color Codes
| Color | Hex Code |
|---|---|
| Gmail Red | #D14836 |
| Gmail Blue | #4285F4 |
| Gmail White | #FFFFFF |
| Gmail Gray | #CCCCCC |
Google Maps Color Palette
Google Maps utilizes a palette of blues, greens, yellows and reds:
- Green (#34A853) – Primary map color.
- Red (#EA4335) – Secondary map accent.
- Yellow (#FBBC05) – Traffic color.
- Blue (#4285F4) – Water color.
This color scheme helps delineate different map elements clearly. Greens distinguish landmasses, blues indicate water, yellows highlight traffic conditions, and reds mark highlights and warnings.
For geo-apps and services consider adopting the Google Maps palette to convey similar real-world geographic associations.
Google Maps Color Codes
| Color | Hex Code |
|---|---|
| Google Green | #34A853 |
| Google Red | #EA4335 |
| Google Yellow | #FBBC05 |
| Google Blue | #4285F4 |
Google Drive Color Palette
Google Drive uses the primary Google color palette of blues, reds, yellows and greens:
- Blue (#4285F4) – Primary accent.
- Red (#EA4335) – Secondary accent.
- Yellow (#FBBC05) – Tertiary accent.
- Green (#34A853) – Quaternary accent.
This colorful scheme suggests Google Drive’s role as a hub offering access to many Google services. The palette appears across Google Drive’s website, mobile apps, and installer.
Use these colors together to implying seamless integration with Google Drive and other Google services.
Google Drive Color Codes
| Color | Hex Code |
|---|---|
| Google Blue | #4285F4 |
| Google Red | #EA4335 |
| Google Yellow | #FBBC05 |
| Google Green | #34A853 |
Google Ads Color Palette
Google Ads features green and yellow branding:
- Green (#4285F4) – Primary brand color.
- Yellow (#FBBC05) – Secondary brand color.
- Blue (#4285F4) – Tertiary brand color.
This cheerful green and yellow combo suggests the positive ROI from Google Ads campaigns. Green signifies earnings and growth, while yellow indicates vigor and enthusiasm.
Try incorporating Google green and yellow in campaigns promoting advertising services or results to capture some of these positive associations.
Google Ads Color Codes
| Color | Hex Code |
|---|---|
| Google Green | #34A853 |
| Google Yellow | #FBBC05 |
| Google Blue | #4285F4 |
Conclusion
Google employs consistent color palettes across its major brands that reinforce its products’ shared values of simplicity, trustworthiness, and accessibility. By utilizing similar colors in your own projects, you can evoke some of the strong favorable associations people have with Google’s tools and services.
Keep Google’s primary color palette of blues, greens, yellows and reds top of mind. Consider the context your project is operating in and how you can best leverage Google brand color associations:
- Google Search – Simple clarity
- YouTube – Energy and dynamism
- Gmail – Modern and friendly
- Google Maps – Real-world associations
- Google Drive – Integrated services
- Google Ads – Performance and returns
With some thoughtful color choices guided by Google’s palettes, you can design and market products that feel intuitively aligned with Google’s trusted tools and services.
