No dessert for you! Android brand redesign says good-bye to dessert names for new releases

With every new release of Android, Google delivers big changes to the operating system. While this typically means new features or design changes in the UI, this year’s most notable change will be in its name. Android Q will not be given an accompanying dessert name as previous versions of Android have gotten over the years. It will simply be called Android 10. Google has decided that it’s time to put its eclectic naming convention for major Android releases to rest, switching to a numeric naming scheme which is easier to understand and communicate.

This change is also accompanied by a redesign of the Android logo which includes changes to the font, colors and the inclusion of the Android robot. In fact, the entire visual identity system for Android is being updated with different colors as well.

Google is positioning these changes as a way to improve the accessibility of the Android brand across the globe. With more than 2.5 billion active devices, the previous naming convention for versions of Android was not really intuitive and was also hard to pronounce.

For example, L and R are not distinguishable when spoken in some languages. So when some people heard us say Android Lollipop out loud, it wasn’t intuitively clear that it referred to the version after KitKat. It’s even harder for new Android users, who are unfamiliar with the naming convention, to understand if their phone is running the latest version. We also know that pies are not a dessert in some places and that marshmallows, while delicious, are not a popular treat in many parts of the world.

As for the new color scheme for the logo and Android’s visual identity, Google has decided to incorporate darker colors which are easier for people to see and identify.

To be clear, these changes aren’t really that big of an issue and won’t have any effect on the regular Android user. That being said, those of us who have been around since the inception of Android have fond memories tied to the various desert names Google has used for its major Android releases over the years. We honestly had no clue what would have been chosen for Android Q, but we did manage to successfully predict the dessert names that were used for Android 5, 6 and 7.

What’s your take on Google’s decision to switch up the logo, colors and naming convention for its Android releases?