Google has changed its logo several times over the course of its existence. The first logo was designed by Sergey Brin and later modified by designer Ruth Kedar, for which she used Catull’s graceful typeface. The logo is used by the Google search engine and, on the occasion of special events and anniversaries, is replaced with a relevant doodle, sometimes animated.
Chronology
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History of the Google logo
In the early years of Google, Sergey Brin, founder of Google together with Larry Page created a version of the logo with the help of the free photo editing software GIMP.
Main logo versions
Classic version of the logo of Google
The classic logo uses the colors blue, red, yellow and green: the two G’s are blue, the first O is red, the second yellow, the L is green and the E is red. This sequence was introduced in September 1998 with the best-known version of the logo, made by Ruth Kedar and based on the Catull font, which remained almost unchanged in form until 2015.
The current version was introduced on September 1, 2015, and, while maintaining the same color sequence, uses the specially created Product Sans font; the new logo is also interactive based on the Google service you are using. This is a new concept: the meta-logo, aimed at identifying the company exclusively through colors even if the aesthetic shape of the logo varies.
Colorless version
On days reminiscent of painful events, Google replaces the classic logo with one without colors. The first appearance of such a logo was on the homepage of Google in Poland to commemorate the plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczyński and other politicians of the country in April 2010. A few days later, the logo was used in China and Hong Kong to pay tribute to the victims of the Qinghai earthquake.
Doodles
Doodles are modified versions of the logo that appear on the Google homepage at particular events and holidays or anniversaries; for example the beginning of spring, Christmas, Halloween, Earth Day, the beginning of European or world (on April 22, 2015, the doodle was combined with a quiz related to it, etc., including those related to the Google company itself such as, for example, the anniversary of the founding of Google, which occurs on September 27, or anniversaries of important figures, such as great scientists or artists, or of inventions and scientific discoveries.
Sometimes this is not a simple stylistic change, and the doodle is also associated with a mini-game, which can be used by users until normal graphics are restored.
Doodles can be global or different (or appear exclusively) on the homepages of different local versions (by language and Internet domain) of Google.
The first Google Doodle to appear on the search engine’s homepage was dedicated to the Burning Man festival on August 30, 1998. Subsequent Google logos were designed by graphic designer Dennis Hwang who was commissioned by Larry Page and Sergey Brin to design a Bastille Day logo for July 14, 2000.
There are numerous characters celebrated through a personalized Doodle: among them Andy Warhol, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Rabindranath Tagore, Louis Braille, Percival Lowell, Nikola Tesla, Béla Bartók, René Magritte, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Akira Kurosawa, H.G. Wells, Samuel Morse, Fernando Pessoa, Martha Graham, Mahatma Gandhi, Antonio Vivaldi, Jules Verne, François Truffaut, Claude Debussy, Italo Calvino, Ayrton Senna and many others.
Doodle4Google
Google organizes competitions for students in which each student must create their own logo based on a theme chosen by Google. The winner is entitled to a trip to the Googleplex and the inclusion of their logo on the Google homepage for a full day.
Interactive logos of Google
Logo Pac-Man
On May 21, 2010, Google celebrated Pac-Man’s thirtieth birthday by replacing the traditional logo with one depicting the game scheme, created together with Namco. By clicking on the logo it was in fact possible to actually play a version of Pac-Man that depicted the word Google. It was the first interactive logo created by the big G. Due to the high demand from users for the playable logo, Google has created a permanent page on their site where you can play with the same functionality as the original page.
“Particle” logo
On September 6, 2010, Google created a logo to celebrate the launch of Google Instant.
Submarine logo
On February 8, 2011, to commemorate the birth of French writer Jules Verne and his famous novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Google created an interactive doodle reminiscent of the Nautilus submarine complete with portholes, on-board instruments and controls. Through a lever placed on the right side is offered the possibility of moving laterally or re-emerging or sinking the submarine while from the portholes you can see a seascape.
Guitar logo
On June 9, 2011, to commemorate the 96th anniversary of the birth of Les Paul, inventor of the Gibson guitar, Google created an interactive doodle that allows you to play a virtual guitar whose strings follow the trend of the logo. As with Pac-Man, the logo is still available.
Lunar logo
On the occasion of the lunar eclipse of June 15, 2011, present in many parts of the world, Google publishes a doodle that allows you to reproduce the trend of this phenomenon.
Logo Freddie Mercury
On September 5, 2011, for the 65th anniversary of the birth of the Queen frontman, Google created an interactive doodle that allows you to listen to the song Don’t stop me now accompanied by a video.
Logo Muppet
On September 24, 2011, to commemorate the birth of the author of The Muppets, Jim Henson, the letters of Google take a shape similar to that of the famous puppets, also pressing the respective button they move the head to the movement of the mouse and open the mouth if you press the left button. It can also happen that the E “devours” the L, while if you move the mouse quickly keeping the red O active, the glasses can fly away.
Logo Art Clokey
October 12, 2011 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of one of the pioneers of stop-motion animation, which is also declined in the doodle, where clicking five letters of the Google logo you have different reactions: with the red O two people with cubic faces named G and J embrace, with the yellow O a mountain is born and then a chameleon, the blue G instead flies away before becoming a blonde girl, the green L takes the form of a human who greets, the red E instead becomes a horse.
Logo Halloween
On October 31, 2011, in honor of the famous festival of Celtic origin, as a doodle there is a stop-motion video where some people dress up and others carve six pumpkins so as to result, at the end of the movie, the Google logo.
Logo Stanisław Lem
On November 23, 2011, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first publication of the Polish science fiction writer, Google created a doodle where the protagonist must perform several interactions.
Christmas logo
On December 25, 2015, at Christmas, Google creates a doodle for the occasion: in the doodle you can see different animals printed and cut out on a background that includes a village decorated with lights of various colors
Spring logo
On March 20, 2012, the day of the spring equinox, Google dedicates a doodle to the flowering season of trees. The logo represents a wonderful variety of colors and symbols. There we find colorful flowers, a sprouted tree and other animals that end the period of hibernation, carried out in winter.
Zoopraxiscope
On April 9, 2012, on the occasion of the 182nd anniversary of the birth of Eadweard Muybridge, Google dedicated an animated doodle to him, which reproduces the famous sequence of the galloping horse, as could be seen using the zoopraxiscope.
Zip zip
On April 24, 2012, 132 years after the birth of Gideon Sundbäck, who perfected the invention of the zipper, the Google page is divided in two by a zip, which can be “opened”.
Synthesizer
On May 23, 2012, for the 78th anniversary of Robert Moog’s birth, the Google logo took the form of his invention, the synthesizer.
Turing’s machine
On June 23, 2012, Google celebrated the centennial of Alan Turing’s birth by offering an interactive version of his machine.
Games of the XXX Olympiad
Throughout the period of the Games, the big G has as a doodle one of the sports practiced at the Olympics. From August 7, the doodle becomes interactive and allows you to play in some competitions: 110 meters hurdles, basketball, canoeing, football.
Trek
On the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the series, Google publishes an interactive doodle respectful of the first directive where clicking you can hear sounds and interactions.
Winsor McCay
On the day of the 107th anniversary of the cartoonist’s birth, Google publishes a doodle that reinterprets his most famous comic, Little Nemo.
Brothers Grimm
On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of their book Fairy Tales of the Hearth, the Google doodle offers, in the form of images, their version of Little Red Riding Hood.
Frank Zamboni
On the 112th anniversary of the birth of the inventor of the machine to smooth the ice rink (in Europe called rolba), the doodle proposes a game in which you have to clean various rinks (park, hockey, skating).
Valentine’s Day and Ferris wheel
On the day of the feast of lovers was born in 1859 George Ferris, who built the first modern Ferris wheel. Google remembered these two events with an interactive doodle, where pressing the heart, two animals cross from two wheels, showing their love story in a semi-serious way.
Douglas Adams
On the 61st anniversary of the birth of Douglas Adams, Google offers an interactive Doodle featuring The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that shows its main contents.
Earth Day
On April 22, 2013, the interactive doodle offers the alternation of day and night.
Saul Bass
On May 8, 2013, for the 93rd anniversary of Saul Bass’s birth, the doodle features a short commemorative film.
Mother’s day
On the occasion of this anniversary, in 2015, Google to remember this day proposes an animated doodle in which you can see the video of several puppies of animals running to hug their mother.
Julius Richard Petri
On May 31, 2013, for the 161st anniversary of the birth of Julius Richard Petri, the doodle shows itself as ggggggggggg.
On September 1, 2013, the 194th anniversary of the birth of the , the doodle allows you to interact with the famous Pendulum that demonstrated the rotation of the earth. This at the time of its insertion started a wrong search, the surname Foucault was written Focault, later this error was corrected.
Google Anniversary
On September 27, 2015, for Google’s 17th anniversary, Google created a doodle in which you see a computer with the opposite search engine open with Google letters celebrating
Parachute
On October 22, 2013, the 216th anniversary of André-Jacques Garnerin’s first parachute jump, a hot air balloon is shown that rises high, then the user must move the pilot left and right. In any case, the launch ends with a greeting.
Test di Rorschach
On November 8, 2013, the 129th anniversary of the birth of the Freudian psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, the doodle offers different versions of the psychiatrist’s test, and for the first time it is planned to be shared through the social networks Google+, Facebook, Twitter.
Doctor Who
On November 23, 2013, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the British TV series Doctor Who, Google included a game in its doodle; a Dalek (villain of Doctor Who) steals the letters that form the word “Google”, and our task is to recover them all through levels with increasing difficulty, with character the eleven incarnations of the Doctor (therefore eleven lives).
Valentine
For February 14, 2014, the doodle offers a toy that allows you to create chocolates with various ingredients to fill a heart-shaped box to give to the person you love.
International Women’s Day
On the eve of this anniversary, the doodle offers a video with some women, famous and not, accompanied by a single by Zap Mama.
Rubik’s Cube
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the creation of the well-known puzzle game, on May 19, 2014, Google created a doodle where users can play a virtual version of the same.
Mandela Day 2014
On that day, when the leader of the struggle against apartheid was born, the Google doodle proposes some of his statements.
John Venn
On August 4, 2014, the 180th anniversary of the birth of the mathematician and set theorist, the doodle plays on the intersection of sets, creating 25 effects with the association of 10 elements of 2 sets.
Eiji Tsuburaya
On July 7, 2015, for the 114th anniversary of the birth of the director and special effects producer, the doodle allows users to compose a tokusatsu-style film.
Ludwig van Beethoven
On the occasion of the 245th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, on December 17, 2015, Google made an interactive doodle in which, impersonating Beethoven, it was necessary to help him get to the theater by rearranging his most famous poems.
Google logo in popular culture
In the ninth episode of the twenty-third season of The Simpsons, entitled Holiday of Future Past, Lisa Simpson virtually enters the Google search engine. There you can find a doodle dedicated to the birth of Dr. Seuss, on March 2.
References (sources)
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