Google/Other

White logos
White versions of the Google logo are used during times of great tragedy. Instances when the white logo has been used include the Polish aircraft disaster which killed President Lech Kaczyński, the Qinghai earthquake and the Gansu mudslide of China. White logos would also appear if you customized the main page of Google by adding a background on the now-decommissioned iGoogle application. They also still appear if you customize the Google Chrome browser with themes that have backgrounds that the fully colored logo is not visible over.

1999–2010
The white version of the logo was introduced in May 31, 1999 along with the main logo.

2009–2013
The white logo was updated in tandem with the main logo in 2010.

2013–2015
The logo was later altered to coincide with Google's logo change in late 2013.

2015–present
The logo was later altered to coincide with Google's logo change in late 2015.

1999–2008
Google's favicon from May 31, 1999 to May 29, 2008, was a blue, uppercase "G" (which would be reused in the current favicon in 2015) on white background. It was accompanied by a border with a red, blue, and a green side.

2008–2009


On May 30, 2008, a new favicon was launched. It showed the lowercase "g" from Google's 1999 logo, colored in blue against a white background, and originally was intended to be a part of a larger set of icons developed for better scalability on mobile devices.

2009–2012


A new favicon was launched on January 9, 2009. It included a left-aligned white "g" with background areas colored in red, green, blue and yellow, with the top, bottom, and left edges of the "g" cropped. It was based on a design by André Resende, a computer science undergraduate student at the University of Campinas in Brazil. He submitted it for a contest launched by Google in June 2008 to receive favicon submissions. The official Google blog stated: "His placement of a white 'g' on a color-blocked background was highly recognizable and attractive, while seeming to capture the essence of Google". This icon still appears on some pages.

2012–2013
The favicon used from August 13, 2012 to September 18, 2013, showed the small letter "g" in white, centered on a solid light blue background. This icon is basically an inverted version of the 2008 icon.

2013–2015
The icon was slightly modified to coincide with Google's logo change in late 2013.

2015–present


Following its logo change in 2015, the new Google icon now uses an uppercase "G" (similar to the 1999 logo) with the four colors from the new main logo. The rebrand also introduced the new "Google dots". The "G" favicon is also slightly reminiscent of the 1993 logo for Gymboree.