While you probably have your photo as your profile picture on your Gmail account or even across the whole Google ecosystem, not everyone wants their actual face there. In another one of those “why did they think of this only now?” moments, Google is bringing us a collection of images that we can choose from to turn into our official Google profile photo. This new feature is called Google Illustrations and is meant to give you “safe, creative, and personalized” options.
Google Illustrations is basically a collection of free and customizable images that users can choose from to take the place of a profile photo. Those who will benefit from this are those that prefer to protect their actual identity, at least picture-wise, or those who would rather have more creative profile photos when using Google products. It seems to be a pretty huge library of illustrations with various categories like animals, sports, nature, games, etc.
Google says the collection is “inclusive and versatile” as you can choose not just from various categories but the illustrations also include various cultures, interests, and backgrounds. You will also be able to adjust some of the aspects of the image like the colors to fit your own taste even more. You can also choose to use the whole object or just a part of it, focusing on individual elements that you think best represent you.
To access the collection, you have to go to the profile picture part in your Google Workspace or on Contacts on Android. When you add or edit your photo, you’ll see a new section called Illustrations. You can search for specific images or browse the entire collection if you don’t know what you’re looking for yet. Once you choose something and apply it, friends, colleagues, and family members will see it across the various, applicable Google products.
Actually for now, the Google Illustrations image that you choose will only apply for Gmail on Android. They’re working on bringing it to more Google products and platforms including iOS and Web. Plus, they will be expanding the collection eventually as well.
