I have noticed that gitlab has a different shade of icon and I can't figure out what makes the icon change.
The one on the left is the more common logo.
The one on the right is the shade I noticed start to appear several months ago.
What does the lighter shade icon represent?
GitLab.com has, for at least a couple years now, used the yellow tanuki favicon to make it easier to distinguish from the default favicon used in self-managed instances.
You'll also see different favicons used in different portions of the site to help identify tabs quickly.
A couple historical issues will evidence this:
Yellow tanuki being shown outside canary releases (2018)
a 2020 issue related favicons, but with a screenshot showing the yellow tanuki favicon
