Lens ended last year with a Pixel Camera-inspired redesign and more shortcuts in other apps to launch the visual search tool. Google is now testing a new Lens icon that better communicates its functionality.
As seen by Android Police, the new Lens icon has been spotted at the top of the Google app in the search box. This post, which appears next to the microphone icon, was launched to Android in October. The shortcut has been on iOS for some time.
Instead of a rounded square, this logo is rectangular and has the shape of a DSLR. Blue still consists of four colors and is the most dominant color that the lens takes, the upper left corner and the viewfinder. Green remains the least prominent in the position at the top right.
This change is not being extended today, and Rajan Patel of Google said it was just an “experiment to see if we could better communicate that the camera opens by tapping the button. We seem to be doing well!”
Google wants to increase the use of Lens. Today, it’s available in Assistant, Photos, Camera Applications, Search (Images), and Chrome if you hold a photo. The placement in the Google app is already prominent, but the company wants to increase the tool’s clarity.
Lens officially had two icons in his life. When it was announced on stage in 2017, the company had a rectangular version that did not differ too much from what is being tested today. In fact, the variant also appears on the Pixel 2 and 2 XL’s retail packaging – the first phones with Lens.
In software, the icon has always been a rounded square. In 2019, Google rounded it off less with rounded corners and visual separation to look more like a viewfinder than a square camera. The company also briefly followed another icon last year.
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