Which one of these favicons could you pick out of a lineup? Whether they’re in your dock, taskbar, bookmark list, feed reader, or browser tab, the whole point of icons is to differentiate themselves. For sadistic bonus points, the new Google favicon is translucent, so in an unselected browser tab it’s even harder to see:
It’s disturbing to see Google attempting to “prettify” their favicon. Google has always been about applications that are homely but powerful and easy to use. The old favicon was hideous‡ but it did its job better than the new glossy, drop shadowed, translucent one.
* Alternate post title: “I am altering the favicon. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
‡ “Let he who is without sin” etc. I’m no Susan Kare so I usually take the easy way out and use a high contrast letter form instead of sweating over a hot 16×16 pixel grid. This approach is inspired by the contrasty-est favicon of all time.
∴ Bonus links: Create your own favicon uploader and Tons of great favicon examples.
8 Comments ↓
NEW ICON REALLY SUCKS!!! I want the old one back!!! Is there anyway I can assign the old one? Addons or shit?
I think there’s already a Greasemonkey script.
Search Engine Land has an official position from Google:
“We recognized there was a need for a Google icon that would better work across multiple applications including web, mobile and client applications. We felt the small ‘g’ had many of the characteristics that best represent our brand: it’s simple, playful, and unique. We will be looking to improve and enhance this icon as we move forward.“
more on http://arbitness.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/why-google-changed-their-favicon/
Looks like the non-engineer “Prince of Insufficient Light” types are infiltrating Google. Not a good sign.
http://www.bringbacktheoldgooglefavicon.com/index.php
created by a friend of a friend
i don’t get it. how is a large G not able to work across multiple applications? that small squigly emasculated “g” seems to be the work of the marketing department trying to prove it’s worth to the company. bet you they spent tons of departmental ass kissing on this, and the so called “creative guys” are starting to take over… oh oh….
Agree, it sucks. Can’t make any sense of it. What is Google thinking??
Frankly, it’s a point of weakness in the brand of the world’s largest “Internet company” that they don’t have way of representing themselves in a favicon that works well!
Could it be that if you plan on ubiquity on the web, a key design issue is the attractiveness of your favicon?!?!
Ponder ponder.
-Alister
The previous favicon did need some work, but different applications have different needs. The Google brand should be recognizable as a logo, as a desktop icon, as a phone icon, and as a 16×16 browser favicon. Each of those formats has different needs. Obviously a 16×16 favicon has the greatest design burden because it’s so small and because it needs to stand out in long lists of other small favicons.
What’s crazy is that dealing with icons at different sizes is a known and solvable problem. You make a nice detailed big alpha channeled icon for the desktop and a tight distinctive one at 16×16. Google shoulda hired this guy: http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/ Everyone uses his free icons.