The YouTube family of apps have their own design language, and the latest change is an updated icon set that is widely rolling out to YouTube Music.
Update 10/23: Last week, YouTube officially announced the video player redesign and other visual tweaks for the main app, which are still rolling out. Over the past day, the new icon set looks to have fully launched for YouTube Music on Android, iOS, and the web.
On music.youtube.com, note the new volume icon. It fits the new rounded style, but ends up looking quite abstract.
Original 10/1: On the homepage, you’ll first notice the new icons in the bottom bar. The “Home” icon is a bit more descriptive, while you can start to make out how this new set is bubbly instead of sharp. “Samples” is a good example of how lines are noticeably thicker, with the thin outlines gone. “Explore” and “Library” are quite bold with a bit more detail.
In the top-right corner, we see the updated notification bell, while the magnifying glass gets a shorter handle.
Old vs. new
On the Now Playing screen, we see the updated downward chevron, Cast button, and thicker dots for the overflow menu.
Then we arrive at — what I consider to be — cartoony thumbs up and down buttons. It’s oddly realistic in how you can make out knuckles, but the fact that there are only three is just like cartoons/animation. Also, the thumb is disproportionately long.
Top comment by Austin
I never liked the razor-thin icons YouTube had going for a few years. Icons are supposed to be clear and legible. It was an interesting attempt but I happily welcome these new ones.
The comments button sees a more significant redraw that I somewhat like with that entirely carousel seeing updated iconography. Play/pause and previous/next get the rounded treatment, while shuffle is a bit bolder. The rounded repeat button sees the biggest update.
In the overflow menu, I like the new album icon, but the new sleep timer just looks like a circle. Finally, the Pin to Speed dial button is tilted.
Overall, I don’t mind most of the new icons as the old set (thin outlines) was getting a bit old, but some look too out of place.
This updated icon set has been widely rolling out in recent days to YouTube Music for Android, iOS, and the web. If you don’t have it yet, try force stopping YTM. There are also some reports in the main YouTube app.
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