How Did Google Doodle Start and Who Is Behind It?

Every day Google Doodle provides some important (or fun) facts to millions of people using this popular search engine.

For some Google Doodle is just a bit of info. Others can go on to investigate the origins and application of ice-cream desserts. The images have caught on so much that they are already an integral part of the internet culture.

They remind us of important events and people and entertain as with some mini-games as well. We all remember the Google logo turning into Pac-man, don’t we?

Although the doodles do attract attention and give you lots of fun from time to time, few of us ever wonder where the images come from and where the idea actually came from.

Google describes it as ‘(…)the fun, surprising, and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists.’

It all dates back to 1998. The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were planning to go to the Burning Man festival in Nevada. They changed the logo to show that they would be away from the office for a few days.

The idea wasn’t particularly sophisticated back then. However, it quickly evolved. Two years later the founding fathers of Google asked their webmaster to prepare another image to celebrate Bastille Day.

Google users liked it so much that that Google Doodles began to appear much more frequently and Dennis Hwang had much more work to do.

At first the images referred to some most important festivals and holidays only. Now they address a wide variety of topics, be that World Championships or the beginning of the asparagus season. So far, the Google team has come up with well over 4000 ‘doodles’ and they don’t seem to be slowing down.

As Dennis Hwand is the head webmaster, he has no time to care about the images as such. It is a team of illustrators who is in charge. Also Google users are free to send in their ideas.

Google is really open for more images. There is a dedicated email address to send your proposals (doodleproposals@google.com). Who knows, perhaps one day your idea will be used there, too?