How Google's icon experiment could improve online security

Two observations:

1 Average users don't pay any attention to that icon, whether it's present or absent. It's even less visible than a banner ad.

2 Most people would probably agree that security matters more on some sites than others, but it seems like there's no standard way to factor that 'desired security level' into the UI. I mean the browser should give a very visible warning if you access your bank or email over an insecure connection, but browsing random news websites over an insecure connection probably creates fewer and less serious security issues for most of us so the warning could be emphasized less.