Today we will discuss the History Of the Google Logo. Every day, about 3.5 billion searches are made on Google. This means the average person might see the Google logo multiple times a day, sometimes even up to 30 times.
Over the past twenty years, the Google logo has become an iconic and easily recognizable symbol. Despite its various changes, it has always remained deceptively simple.
Interestingly, Google had two “first” logos. The initial logo from 1996 included a hand image and the company’s original name, “BackRub,” in red font. After rebranding to Google, a simpler multicolor logo was introduced in 1998 that read “Google!”.
Many people are unaware of the intriguing backstory behind one of the most famous designs on the internet, which began in 1996. Let’s take a journey through the history of the Google logo.
Google Logo History
1996: The First Google Logo
The very first logo of the search engine predates the name “Google.”
Initially, Larry Page and Sergey Brin called their web crawler “BackRub,” due to its primary function of searching the internet’s back links. The original logo featured the name “BackRub” with an image of a hand in the background.
In 1997, the company name changed to “Google,” a misspelling of “googol,” a Latin term for the number 10 to the 100th power (a one followed by 100 zeros). The name was chosen to signify the search engine’s ability to deliver vast quantities of results quickly.
1998: The First Real Google Logo
The first official Google logo was created in 1998. 
There are conflicting stories about who designed it—some credit Larry Page, while others say Sergey Brin designed it using a free image editor called GIMP. Regardless, the design was quite basic and unrefined.
A fun fact about this logo is the inclusion of an exclamation point, supposedly inspired by Yahoo!’s logo, as tech companies often followed each other’s trends at that time.
1999-2010: Ruth Kedar’s Logo Designs
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, dissatisfied with their initial logo, sought the help of Ruth Kedar, a Stanford assistant professor. Kedar was introduced to them through a mutual friend and was asked to create some logo prototypes.
Her first design featured a mostly black logo using the Adobe Garamond typeface and removed the exclamation point. Page and Brin liked this design because the mark in the middle resembled a Chinese finger trap.
Kedar’s next attempt used the Catull typeface, aiming to convey accuracy, like a target.
She continued to experiment with color and interlocking Os, leading to the design elements seen in the Google logo at the bottom of every search engine results page.
Several iterations later, Kedar’s designs started to look more familiar. The letters became more colorful and playful, with shadowing and thicker lines making them pop. One of her simplest designs eventually became the official Google logo from 1999 to 2010.
In 2010, Google made a slight modification to the logo by changing the “o” from yellow to orange and removing the drop shadowing.
2015: A New Logo for Google
In 2015, Google designers gathered in New York City for a week-long design sprint to create a new logo and branding. The result was a significant transformation, though the distinctive color pattern (blue-red-orange-blue-green-red) was retained. The typeface changed from Catull to a custom schoolbook-inspired font called Product Sans.
Google also introduced several logo variations, including the rainbow “G” for the smartphone app and the favicon for Google websites, and a microphone for voice search.
The new logo, despite its simple appearance, represented a major change. The previous typeface, Catull, was a serif typeface, meaning it had small lines embellishing the main strokes of some letters. These serif typefaces are less versatile because of the varying letter weights.
Product Sans, a sans-serif typeface, allows for easier manipulation and adaptation for different sizes, making it suitable for the diverse range of Google products, from Android watches to desktop screens. The new logo is designed to look youthful, fun, and approachable, reflecting Google’s image as a friendly tech giant amid growing concerns about data privacy.
A Dynamic Logo
The Google logo is now dynamic, changing based on user interactions. When starting a voice search on a phone or tablet, users see the Google dots bouncing in anticipation. As they speak, the dots transform into an equalizer that responds to the voice, and once the user stops talking, the equalizer morphs back into dots that ripple as Google processes the query.
Google’s design team explained that these movements represent a range of expressions, including listening, thinking, replying, incomprehension, and confirmation. The motion is rooted in consistent paths and timing, with the dots moving along geometric arcs and following a standard set of easing curves.
Implementation and Growth of the Google Doodle
In 1998, Google began experimenting with the Google Doodle, a temporary alteration of the traditional Google logo. The first Doodle appeared in 1998 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin attended the Burning Man festival. They placed a stick figure drawing behind the logo’s second “O” as an “out of office” message.
As the years passed, the Doodles became more detailed and elaborate. In 2000, Page and Brin asked intern Dennis Hwang to create a Doodle for Bastille Day. The positive reception led to Hwang being appointed as the “chief doodler.”
Today, Google Doodles are used to commemorate holidays, special occasions, and the birthdays of significant figures in science, art, and other fields. Initially, Doodles marked well-known holidays like Valentine’s Day and Halloween, but they have since become more global and creative. For instance, a Doodle on September 1, 2017, celebrated the first day of school.
Doodle ideas come from a team that meets periodically to brainstorm, but users can also submit suggestions. Once an idea is approved, illustrators and engineers create the actual Doodles.
By 2015, Google had launched over 2,000 Doodles on various homepages around the world, and by 2016, the number had surpassed 4,000. Google continues to embrace Doodles, maintaining a verified Twitter account to update its audience on newly published Doodles. The account has over 127,000 followers.
Google also welcomes Doodle ideas from the public at [email protected].
The Future of the Google Logo
The Google logo has evolved significantly over the years, reflecting changes in technology and user preferences. As technology continues to advance, it’s likely that the Google logo will undergo further transformations to remain relevant and engaging.
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