It’s not unusual to visit Google’s homepage and find that the logo has changed to celebrate something, like a holiday, event, or person. Known as Google Doodles, these colorful artworks had humble beginnings, but to date over 5,000 have been created by a host of artists.
What was the first-ever Google Doodle? What’s Pac-Man got to do with it? And can you design your own? Let’s explore the interesting world of Google Doodles.
1. The First Doodle Was an Out-of-Office
If you’re taking time off work, you probably pop on your email’s out of office notification. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, had something else in mind when they were attending the Burning Man festival in 1998.
To let everyone know that the pair wouldn’t be around, they placed the Burning Man logo behind Google’s second “O”. It’s so old that it predates Google being incorporated and features the Yahoo-inspired exclamation mark.
What began as basically a joke would create the decades-spanning art of the Google Doodle.
2. Doodles Vary by Country
Nowadays, Doodles are an international affair. While some appear globally across every version of Google, others are for specific countries to highlight local holidays and culture. There can be different Doodles appearing in different countries on the same day.
The first non-US Doodle appeared on July 14, 2000 (two years after the first Doodle) to celebrate France’s Bastille Day. Festivities include fireworks, hence their inclusion on the Doodle.
3. Doodles Became Animated for Halloween
It didn’t take long for Doodles to go to the next level: animation. In 2000, to celebrate Halloween, artist Lorie Loeb designed a spooky GIF complete with a glowing jack-o’-lantern and hanging spider.
There have been more advanced animated Doodles since then, but GIFs continue to endure.
4. Doodles Can Take Hours or Years to Create
One of the quickest Doodles ever created was in November 2009 for the discovery of water on the moon. Doodles artist Jennifer Hom recalls the story on the Google Doodles website.
She stumbled across a news article about the event that morning; just before she was about to eat lunch, she got a call to have the Doodle “sketched, drafted, finished, and live on all our homepages in four hours.”
On the opposite end of the scale is Doodle Champion Island Games, which is an expansive role-playing sports game designed for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
It was delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and had a sizable development team, including collaboration with Japanese animation company Studio 4°C. Thankfully, they were able to finish the project, and you can play Doodle Champion Island Games in all its glory.
5. Pac-Man Is a Playable Doodle
Pac-Man is just as iconic as Google, so what better way to introduce the first interactive Doodle than with the yellow chomper himself? To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man in 2010, the Google logo turned into a playable version of the game, complete with original sound effects, gameplay logic, and even bugs!
It remained on the Google homepage for two days, but it’s one of many Google Doodles you can still play today.
6. You Can Browse Your Birthday Doodles
Forget caring about the newspaper headlines from the day you were born. How about the Google Doodle of the day? Okay, you might have been born before 1998, but you can still see which Doodles have appeared on your birthday in the subsequent years.
Simply head to the Google Doodles homepage and use the “Find Your Doodle” feature. You can also search Doodles by style, color, topic, and more. You never have to miss out on another Doodle.
7. Doodles Exist in Many Art Forms
You’ve learned about animated and interactive Doodles, but this just scratches the surface of what they can be. The first video Doodle debuted in 2011 for Charlie Chaplin’s birthday, which led the way for other videos that same year to honor Lucille Ball and Freddie Mercury.
2018 saw the first VR/360 Doodle, inspired by French film pioneer Georges Méliès. In 2020, composer Johann Sebastian Bach was celebrated in an AI-powered Doodle, which used machine learning to turn your melody into Bach’s style.
Not all Doodles are this technologically advanced. Others are made from plants, quilts, or coffee. It turns out you can make the Google logo out of anything!
8. It’s Easy to Submit Your Doodle Idea
Do you have an amazing idea for a Doodle that you think Google has overlooked? All you have to do is drop the team an email at doodleproposals@google.com.
While they receive hundreds of ideas every day, they do apparently read them all. Just make sure it’s something unique if you want a shot at Doodle ideation fame.
9. Students Can Design Their Own Doodles
If you dream of your own Doodle gracing Google’s homepage, you might be in luck. Google has an in-house team of Doodlers, but does also commission work from external artists.
If you’re a K-12 student, though, check out the Doodle for Google initiative. Not only will your Doodle be seen by millions of people, but you’ll win scholarship money, tech for your school, and more. Having launched in 2005, it’s the longest-running Google contest.
10. Doodles Has a Feline Mascot
The internet loves cats, so it makes sense that Doodles’ mascot of sorts is a black feline called Momo, based on a former Google designer’s real-life pet. While a black cat appeared in the 2015 Halloween Doodle, Momo’s headline appearance came a year later in the Magic Cat Academy game.
Now, Momo is the Doodle character with the most appearances. While you’re most likely to spot her at Halloween, she crops up elsewhere too, so keep your eyes peeled.
It’s a testament to the power of Google’s brand that it can get away with changing its logo so often. Head on over to Google’s homepage today and you’re likely to find a fun Doodle to admire—and perhaps you’ll even learn something too.
