COMD1112-Logo history research

Original file link with images

Since Google changed its logo on Sept 15,2015, it has changed six times with 7 logo versions. I chose it because google has been changed many times to their logo. And they will redesign its logo for every special date or event which is “Google Doodle”. What made Google change its logo and how did “Google Doodle” be created are interesting things I want to find out.

In the very beginning, Google was not called “Google” but “BlackRub”. In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google, developed a search engine called BackRub. It ran on Stanford university servers for more than a year. The BackRub is Google’s predecessor. The original Logo was created by Larry Page with a red BackRub on one hand.

On September 15, 1997, the domain name Google.com was registered. Google, the name comes from the mathematical term “Googol,” meaning the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. At that time, the logo was a bold font with a red shadow, and the Google letters were also used in the logo for the first time.

In 1998, when Google was launched, the Logo was finally joined with the words “!” To Yahoo! Salute.The logo used Baskerville Bold with shadow and rounded. But before that, there was an original logo that the initial G was Green. This 1998 version of the color sequence is still in use today, although there are different tones and fonts.

The Catull font logo was created in 1999 that removed the exclamation point.” We had more colors,” Kedar says, “but in the end we went with a primary color.” The final Logo was also used by Google until 2010. Google grew between 1999 and 2010, when it used that version of the Logo, and on April 28, 2004, it had the biggest IPO in history at the time. Before this final logo, Page and Brin invited Kedar to help them design the logo. She used Adobe Garamond typeface to design a black logo and removed the exclamation point. Page and Brin loved her use of the Chinese finger trap element. Then Kedar also tried out the catull font design, adding color and interlocking Os. After several attempts at design, Kedar used shadows and bold lines. The final version of the design was used in 2010.

In 2010, Google introduced the new Logo again. This version of the Logo is based on the previous version, the shadow has been removed, the letter O changed from yellow to orange, appears more bright.

To keep with the growing trend of “flattening” in the tech world, Google introduced a new Logo in 2013 that went on to remove the letter highlights from the previous version.

In May 2014, Google introduced a new Logo. Does it look much the same as the previous Logo? Take a look at the diagram below. The new Logo has only a few changes to the position of the letters “G” and “L”, as shown above. The second “G” moved one pixel to the right and the letter “L” moved one pixel to the right and one pixel to the bottom. According to a Google spokesperson who contacted Gizmodo, they tweaked it “to make sure it looks its sharpest regardless of your screen resolution“. After this modification, the alignment of the Logo has been enhanced. This also reflects Google’s pursuit of detail from the side.

In 2015，the font of this new Logo has been changed. The original serif font changed to a redesigned sans serif font, which makes the whole Logo look more concise. As for the reason why Google changed its Logo this time, it has something to do with the fact that Google is now one of the subsidiaries of Alphabet.

It’s the biggest change to Google’s Logo in more than a decade. In this sense, Google’s Logo change is conservative and cautious. But that’s because Google has another space where they can let their imaginations run wild in the Google Logo. That’s the “naughty” Google Doodle.

Google Doodle, also known as the Google Doodle, is a special Google design based on the original Logo. Before the company was founded, Google’s two founders were visiting the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert. They created a Doodle after the second “O” of the word Google. In 1998, before the company was founded. Google’s two founders, visiting the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert. They created a Doodle after the second “O” of the word “Google.”

So far the Doodle team has created more than 2,000 doodles on Google’s homepage around the world. These Doodles, also to the regular trademark for Google, have added a variety of brand images.

Therefore, from 1996 till now, as Google continues to program and improve their search engine, they are also exploring how their logo will look to the public. And Doodle gives people a platform to show the design used in the Google logo. It not only formed the Free and diverse Culture of Google but also from a unique perspective, the interpretation of the Internet spirit of this era.

Resources:

Feinberg,Ashley, “Google Changed Its Logo This Weekend and You Didn’t Even Notice”,GIZMODO, May 12, 2014,

https://gizmodo.com/google-changed-its-logo-this-weekend-and-you-didnt-even-1582005359

Frost, Aja, “The Secret History of the Google Logo”, HotSpot, 2019,

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-logo-history

“Get the story behind Google’s Doodles” ,9to5 google, july 2011, No Author

https://9to5google.com/guides/google-doodle/

Gill, Rituraj, “5 Crazy Facts About Google Logo That Will Blow Your Mind”, designhill, Logo Design, May 2, 2018

https://www.designhill.com/design-blog/crazy-facts-about-google-logo-that-will-blow-your-mind/

Kastrenakes, Jacob, “Google has a new logo”,The verge,sep1, 2015

https://www.theverge.com/2015/9/1/9239769/new-google-logo-announced

“The History of the Google Logo, from 1997”, PC Steps,2015, No Author