There was one for the recent elections in Egypt, one for Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 190th birthday on Nov. 11, one for Mexico’s Day of the Dead holiday on Nov. 1 and one to celebrate the first day of school back in September.
Every so often, Google replaces its familiar logo with a doodle, a stylized version that celebrates holidays, birthdays and other dates of international significance. The company has used them practically from the beginning: The first doodle dates back to 1998.
It turns out that a recently discovered Easter egg lets users view every doodle Google has created. By clicking on the I’m Feeling Lucky button on the Google homepage (without entering any text in the search bar), users have access to the entire catalog of doodles.
There are more than 1,000 Google doodles, but the company doesn’t keep track of any statistics on their popularity, according to Anne Espiritu, of the company’s global communications and public affairs department. That said, certain doodles, primarily interactive ones such as the Les Paul doodle from last June that allowed users to strum notes on a virtual guitar, do appear to generate the most enthusiasm online, she said.
“While the doodle is primarily a fun way for the company to recognize events and notable people, it also illustrates the creative and innovative personality of the company itself,” Google says on its main doodle website.
Creating the doodles isn’t something that’s taken lightly. In fact, Google has a dedicated team of four “Doodlers” who create the bulk of the illustrations. The first doodle, a drawing of Burning Man, was created by then-intern Dennis Hwang in 1998 at the behest of company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. A Thanksgiving-themed sketch soon followed, but it was another year before they returned, with doodles for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Doodles have since become more of a mainstay, with doodles for holidays major and minor, domestic and international, now commonplace.
Jennifer Hom, a designer at Google since 2009, is one of the doodlers.
Based in the company's Mountain View office, Hom, whose doodle celebrating Mark Twain’s birthday debuts today, said, “We’re constantly coming up with new ideas for doodles.” She said she gets so many ideas that “I dream about doodles in my sleep.
Coming up with doodles is a yearlong process. While there are weekly, formal meetings with her fellow doodlers to discuss new ideas, Hom says that just as many ideas come from casual conversation around the office or are thrown around via e-mail. Users can also submit proposals, or even finished doodles, to the company via a dedicated e-mail address: proposals@google.com.
Hom, a longtime Queen fan, said her favorite doodle was the one from this past Sept. 5: the birthday of lead singer Freddie Mercury, who would have been 65 years old. Research for the doodle was especially rewarding: “I got to listen to Queen in the office for four months straight.”
Actually creating the doodle typically takes around four weeks. Since Google often produces specialized doodles for its international home pages, much time is spent going back and forth with the different international offices making sure they’ve captured the spirit of the event or person they’re trying to commemorate.
Without any statistics to ascertain doodles’ popularity, Hom says she follows feedback on Twitter to see what people think of the doodlers’ latest creations.
“It’s fun,” she said, seeing people tweet and retweet the doodles. “My job is to make people happy.”
Every so often, Google replaces its familiar logo with a doodle, a stylized version that celebrates holidays, birthdays and other dates of international significance. The company has used them practically from the beginning: The first doodle dates back to 1998.
It turns out that a recently discovered Easter egg lets users view every doodle Google has created. By clicking on the I’m Feeling Lucky button on the Google homepage (without entering any text in the search bar), users have access to the entire catalog of doodles.
There are more than 1,000 Google doodles, but the company doesn’t keep track of any statistics on their popularity, according to Anne Espiritu, of the company’s global communications and public affairs department. That said, certain doodles, primarily interactive ones such as the Les Paul doodle from last June that allowed users to strum notes on a virtual guitar, do appear to generate the most enthusiasm online, she said.
“While the doodle is primarily a fun way for the company to recognize events and notable people, it also illustrates the creative and innovative personality of the company itself,” Google says on its main doodle website.
Creating the doodles isn’t something that’s taken lightly. In fact, Google has a dedicated team of four “Doodlers” who create the bulk of the illustrations. The first doodle, a drawing of Burning Man, was created by then-intern Dennis Hwang in 1998 at the behest of company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. A Thanksgiving-themed sketch soon followed, but it was another year before they returned, with doodles for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Doodles have since become more of a mainstay, with doodles for holidays major and minor, domestic and international, now commonplace.
Jennifer Hom, a designer at Google since 2009, is one of the doodlers.
Based in the company's Mountain View office, Hom, whose doodle celebrating Mark Twain’s birthday debuts today, said, “We’re constantly coming up with new ideas for doodles.” She said she gets so many ideas that “I dream about doodles in my sleep.
Coming up with doodles is a yearlong process. While there are weekly, formal meetings with her fellow doodlers to discuss new ideas, Hom says that just as many ideas come from casual conversation around the office or are thrown around via e-mail. Users can also submit proposals, or even finished doodles, to the company via a dedicated e-mail address: proposals@google.com.
Hom, a longtime Queen fan, said her favorite doodle was the one from this past Sept. 5: the birthday of lead singer Freddie Mercury, who would have been 65 years old. Research for the doodle was especially rewarding: “I got to listen to Queen in the office for four months straight.”
Actually creating the doodle typically takes around four weeks. Since Google often produces specialized doodles for its international home pages, much time is spent going back and forth with the different international offices making sure they’ve captured the spirit of the event or person they’re trying to commemorate.
Without any statistics to ascertain doodles’ popularity, Hom says she follows feedback on Twitter to see what people think of the doodlers’ latest creations.
“It’s fun,” she said, seeing people tweet and retweet the doodles. “My job is to make people happy.”
