I hope the Fitbit logo remains or: The boringness of the ‘G’

Abner Li | Jun 4 2024 - 2:00 pm PT

This is the least important part of Fitbit’s absorption into Google — seriously, where is the dark theme — but I hope its logo and brand identity survives. I’m specifically referring to the arrow logo comprised of dots, lowercase “fitbit” wordmark, and soothing green/teal color palette.

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After the acquisition, with the Sense 2, Versa 4, and Charge 6, “Fitbit by Google” was leveraged. The logo and wordmark remained side-by-side with “by Google” following.

Back in March, it became “Google Fitbit,” with the latter word adopting a new font and becoming capitalized. This is what appears on fitbit.com, which now directs to the Google Store for purchases. Save for the favicon, the logo doesn’t really appear on the page. One of the more prominent examples is as a complication on the Pixel Watch 2.

Meanwhile, marketing emails recently switched from the logo in the top-left corner to just “Google Fitbit.” It’s really pretty boring. I was especially reminded of that blandness when the Fitbit Ace LTE was announced last week.

This kids smartwatch continues to use the old logo/wordmark and is so much more interesting as a result. That entire product is playful, but that continued usage is presumably due to the product being in-development for the past 2-3 years and a change before launch not being easy.

I’m worried about a “Google Nest” repeat. In that case, either the Google Home logo is leveraged or the four-color Google “G” makes an appearance, especially on smart home product packaging. It’s fine on Pixel since those phones never had an individual brand, but a waste with Nest.

That said, there are key differences with Fitbit, like how the Android/iOS app logo and aforementioned Wear OS complication can’t switch to the “G” icon and continue to make sense. In that regard, I’m more hopeful of the Fitbit identity sticking around.

While I like today’s green, I’d settle for the dots eventually getting the blue, red, yellow, and green treatment, which I feel is required/inevitable for its continued existence. (You can see a “Photoshop is my passion” take from yours truly below.)