New logo for Google

Google have just announced a re-brand…

Google must be one of the most frequently seen and most recognised brands in the world. So why would they make any changes to their brand? Well let me be clear – the change is a minor one – marked by the introduction of a new ‘Favicon’. (A Favicon is the little symbol that appears to the left hand side of the URL in your browser – if you look you’ll see a ”  ” at the top of this page which shows you’re looking at my blog).

So why all the fuss about Google and a new Favicon? Well take a look for yourself – can you see why everyone’s so excited???

Can you see it? Can you???

Probably not. Because this little Favicon hasn’t been designed to win Google a Yellow Pencil Award. It’s been designed for brand awareness. You see, the normal Google logo we all know so well is a ‘logotype’ – a type-only logo – without a symbol or graphic alongside it. This little Favicon is Google’s new symbol – something new to the brand.

You might argue that Google doesn’t need a symbol like Shell, Mercedes or HSBC – after all, Google’s a logo that’s so universally recognised it can be pulled and pushed all over the place without damaging the brand, see below:

Which brings us back to the Google Favicon. The reason Google does need a Favicon is because this little logo appears at the top of the 1.2 billion pages that Google serves up to users every day. Just imagine putting your logo in front of so many people! It’s a branding exercise – however small, this little Favicon is designed to keep Google at the front of the user’s mind.

I’ll end on an obvious cliché.

When it comes to logos, it’s not size that matters. It’s how often you use it.