New Google Favicon Deja Vu All Over Again? 227
theodp writes "Last June, Google rolled out a new favicon, the small branding icon that graces your URL bar when you visit Google. Which, as it turned out, bore a striking similarity to Garth Brooks' Circle-G logo. Well, Google went back to the drawing board and has come back with a new favicon, which it says was inspired by — not copied from, mind you — its users' submitted ideas. Some are also seeing inspiration elsewhere for the new favicon, which consists of white 'g' on a background of four color swatches. Take the AVG antivirus icon, for instance. Or everybody's favorite memory toy, Simon. Or — in perhaps the unkindest cut of all — the four-color Microsoft Windows logo, shown here with a superimposed white '7'. Anything else come to mind?" What comes to mind for me is just how obsessed many people are with the Google favicon.
One of the reasons is dont like to use icons.... (Score:2, Interesting)
is that all the idiotic designers think GUIs are a playground. From 1988 to 1995 Icons changed only marginally with time, but since the web-culture has spoiled the idea of consistent, clean UIs, i prefer to turn on the icon name whereever possible.
Almost Identical to Printing Company in Austin (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Looks Like a Paw. Brings to mind Pet Supplies. (Score:5, Interesting)
Agreed. For the first few days I kept noticing the new favicon for google and wondering in my head "Why is google putting up a jumble of random shapes for their favicon?" I had assumed it was like the anniversary of some grand puzzle maker or something. Only yesterday did it suddenly hit me "OH that's a g!"
Terrible logo. In the middle it's at least legible.
Re:Looks Like a Paw. Brings to mind Pet Supplies. (Score:4, Interesting)
The original (the old old) logo was way better. And the favicon they did is worse than the one they got the inspiration from.
I don't get it, why do they keep changing it? I thought forming a brand meant keeping the same recognizable logo as long as you could, not arbitrarly changing it every 6 months!
Typical Engineers (Score:2, Interesting)
Naturally I'm bitter because I'm a graphics person, and I've seen so many engineers try to do "design wheelies" with the drawing tools in Excel and get hopelessly stuck on the role of decoration in design during lunchroom conversations...but come on. Your opinion matters as far as your experience does. At some point you have to admit that the designer with an MFA did actually learn a thing or two and your brain can't always make up with ingenuity what it lacks in experience.
Yank the engineers out of the identity process and get somebody who looks in from the outside and does the real research on identity with *real* experience. Hire the Paul Rand or whoever and get it over with already - this blog-friendly approach to identity is so democratic that it makes you look like a bunch of indecisive hippies who take my graphic design class rather than the ultra-innovative next-generation types you aspire to be. sorry...
Re:Really, timothy? (Score:3, Interesting)
What comes to mind for me is just how obsessed many people are with the Google favicon.
You mean like the Slashdot editors who think it's important enough to put on the front page?
Well, I noticed it first thing this morning when I started my workstation.
Personally I think it's damn ugly -- which surprised me for Google.
Maybe I'll put a custom one in my userChrome.css.
Re:I'm not really seeing the similarity (Score:2, Interesting)
When it changed, I for one thought my browser was being hijacked.
Re:Impairing usability (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, it is a usability problem.
In much the same way, a penny is money.