Base14

When I woke up and was browsing my Google News headlines this morning, something caught my eye almost immediately, and refused to go away. Finally I gave it the attention it demanded, and realized to my surprise, Google has a new favicon! Well, we’ve had the uppercase G for as long as I can remember, and here’s how the new one compares.

I think the most interesting thing is the use of transparency here. Whereas the old favicon was a solid square, this new one is mostly transparent behind the g, save for a slight gray gradient at the bottom. And interestingly enough, putting it against darker backgrounds reveals something else.

There’s also a light gradient at the top! I suppose this would be visible in browsers with dark color themes, but most of us would never notice. It’s interesting to see this attention to detail. Overall, I’d say this new logo will take some getting used to. The big G always felt so solid and strong. This little g doesn’t seem to resonate the enormous entity Google has become. But as other bloggers have pointed out, perhaps they’re trying to keep thinking like an underdog.