Illustrating the Gemini App

How do you build trust in a tool that’s always evolving? Our AI assistant, Gemini , is constantly learning and adapting, which means traditional design methodologies (mostly linear, predictable, and rooted in control) have to be set aside.

Our designers took on the challenge of charting a new digital landscape. How do you bridge conceptual gaps around AI, especially around how Gemini simplifies information and expands ideas? How do you invite users to explore, play, and search, so they can build confidence using an ever-shifting tool? These questions were guided by a core set of goals: to make Gemini feel intuitive, immersive, approachable, aspirational — and, above all, trustworthy.

While Gemini’s sparkle icon may be the most ubiquitous visual element within the Gemini brand, there are many other elements of the product’s illustration system to be explored. In this deep dive, the designers behind the system pull back the curtain to reveal gradients, responsive containers, and intentional motion that seamlessly work together to create a sense of magic, clarity, and familiarity within the Gemini experience.

Navigating uncharted design territory isn’t new. Consider designer Susan Kare, who pioneered the original Macintosh interface. Using simple visual metaphors, she made abstract digital processes tangible and intuitive for new users: a trash can, a paintbrush, a smiling computer face. Her icons weren’t just pixels; they were bridges between human understanding and machine logic. Gemini faces a similar challenge around accessibility, visibility, and alleviating potential concerns. What is Gemini’s equivalent of Kare’s smiling computer face?