Among the recent updates to Google Maps is a new colour palette, which has been rolling out incrementally to users. Elizabeth Laraki, who worked on the design of Google Maps 15 years ago, has some thoughts.
It seems the goal was to improve usability and make the maps more readable. Admittedly, I do think major roads, traffic, and trails stand out more now. But the colors of water and parks/open spaces blend together. And to me, the palette feels colder and more computer generated. But color choices aside … If the goal was better usability, the team missed a big opportunity: Google Maps should have cleaned up the crud overlaying the map.