In case you've accessed the Google website in the last few days, you have surely noticed that there's a new favicon displayed in your browser once the website is fully loaded. Moreover, in case you have bookmarked the Google Search page, there's a new "g" appearing next to the page title. Well, Google rolled out their first new favicon in the last 8.5 years and according to the company's officials, creating such an icon is more difficult than it may sound.

"The design process we went through was rigorous and interesting, so we thought we would share more of it here. We tried in total more than 300 permutations. It was much harder than we thought at first. We wanted something distinctive and noticeable, so we aimed toward transparency or semi-transparency, so the image would have a more distinctive noticeable shape than just a block," Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience, and Micheal Lopez, Web Designer, explained the design process of the new favicon.

"We wanted something that embraced the colorfulness of the logo, yet wouldn't date itself. Since we don't really have a symbol that means Google, we felt it best to work with the logo and letters within it."

'But what's the reason for creating a new favicon?' you may ask. According to the two Google officials, the need for such an icon was brought by the expansion of Google search, a search technology which is now available on multiple web platforms. "The reason is that we wanted to develop a set of icons that would scale better to some new platforms like the iPhone and other mobile devices," they explained.

However, it seems the Mountain View-based company might consider replacing the current favicon again, depending on consumer reaction and the results it may get after the design process. "By no means is the one you're seeing our favicon final; it was a first step to a more unified set of icons," the Google officials mentioned. In case you have your own favicon which could be used by Google, you are encouraged to send it to the company. "We'll do our best to work them in, and maybe your idea will be the one that people see billions of times per day."