Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the official Google logo we usually find on the search engine giant’s homepage. In retrospect, doodles have been created to celebrate global events, including holidays, historical dates, achievements and people.
Guess what, the Google Doodles turned 16 last month! Aren’t you excited to learn how they were conceived?
Google creatives paid a nice tribute to the doodles turning sweet sixteen with this nice visual treat.
Story behind the first official Google Doodle
Doodles give a sneak look into the incredibly awesome atmosphere at the Google HQ. Billions of people from all parts of the world, of all ages and sex enjoy the Google Doodles, especially the interactive ones. Personally, I look forward to special dates and occasions that might compel Google to share a visual delight in the form of a overly creative Doodle. And there are very few occasions when I’m disappointed. So how did the Google Doodle phenomena started in the first place? Let’s take a look.
The story dates back to the initial days of Google when founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page worked with a small group of would-be millionaires. In 1998, Brin and Page took a weekend off to attend the Burning Man festival in Nevada, and so to let the fellow team members know that they were out of the office and won’t be able to fix technical glitches.
The doodle was created by Brin and Page and was subsequently added to the homepage to let the team know they won’t be around to fix server crashes. That was the inception of Google Doodles as we know today!
Quite an interesting story, don’t you think?
The Google Logo Saga – Past and Present
The First Ever Google Logo
The one and the original Google logo designed with Baskerville Bold font. It remained on the Google homepage from September to October 1998.
2nd Google Logo – The age of “!”
The Google! logo was interesting as it conveyed the arrival of a new search engine giant on the global scene. It remained in action for less than a year between October 1998 and May 1999.
3rd Google Logo – The Longest Standing One
The 3rd Google logo was live from May 31, 1999 to May 5, 2010. Till date, it remains the longest standing logo in the history of Google, since it lasted for just under 11 years, 10 years and eleven months to be precise. It is still used on the Picasa software and the Internet Explorer Gallery.
4th Google Logo
The 4th Google logo came with a slight change in color. It was used between May 6, 2010 and September 18, 2013. The major difference in comparison with the 3rd Google logo was the curtailed length of the projected shadow behind the Google and the change in color of the second “o” from yellow to orange.
Present Google Logo
Current logo was introduced last year with the only difference being slightly cool color saturation and flattening of shadows as Google went in the direction of flat design.
Wrapping it up!
Google isn’t your regular tech firm. In fact, unconventionalism is the ingenious pedigree that Brin and Page imbibed in the very fabric of the company they created with so much heart. The phenomenal success of two Stanford students is there for everybody to see, but there is an honest and whimsical side to the story as well.
Brin and Page never wanted Google to become a conventional company. The intent was clear right at the outset when they signed off Google’s security registration form declaring “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” Keeping their words true till date, the world’s most visited site remains the world’s most sought after place to work as well.
