Google logo

For the occasional special logo celebrating holidays and people, see Google Doodle.
The current Google logo was launched on September 1, 2015. The logo now has a new tailor-made sans-serif typeface. It has softer colors and bears a resemblance to the logo of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc.
Product Sans, Google's typeface since 2015

The Google logo appears in numerous settings to identify the search engine company. Google has relied on several logos since its renaming (see History of Google), with the first logo created by Sergey Brin using GIMP. A revised logo debuted on September 1, 2015. The previous logo, with slight modifications between 1999 and 2013, was designed by Ruth Kedar; the wordmark was based on the Catull typeface, an old style serif typeface designed by Gustav Jaeger for the Berthold Type Foundry in 1982.[1]

The company also includes various modifications or humorous features, such as cartoon modifications of their logo for use on holidays, birthdays of famous people, and major events, such as the Olympics.[2] These special logos, some designed by Dennis Hwang, have become known as Google Doodles.

History

In 1998, Larry Page created a computerized version of the Google letters using the free graphics program GIMP. The typeface was changed and an exclamation mark was added mimicking the Yahoo! logo.[3]

"There were a lot of different color iterations", says Ruth Kedar, the graphic designer who developed the now-famous logo. "We ended up with the primary colors, but instead of having the pattern go in order, we put a secondary color on the L, which brought back the idea that Google doesn't follow the rules."[4]

In 2010, the Google logo received its first major overhaul since May 31, 1999. The new logo was first previewed on November 8, 2009,[5] and was officially launched on May 6, 2010.[6] It utilises an identical typeface to the previous logo, but the "o" is distinctly more orange-colored in place of the previously more yellowish "o", as well as a much more subtle shadow rendered in a different shading style. On October 25, 2013, Google introduced a new "flat" (two-dimensional) logo with a slightly altered color palette.[7][8] On May 24, 2014, the Google logo was updated, the second 'g' moved right one pixel and the 'l' moved down and right one pixel.[9][10] The old 2010 Google logo remained in use on some pages, such as the Google Doodles page, for a period of time.[11]

On September 1, 2015, Google introduced a controversial "new logo and identity family" designed to work across multiple devices.[12][13][14] The notable difference in the logo is the change in the typeface. The colors remained the same; however, Google switched to a modern, geometric sans-serif typeface called Product Sans, created in-house at Google (and also used for the Alphabet logo).[15]

Google logos
Initial Google logo from 1997 
Original logo in Baskerville Bold, used from September to October 1998, with a different color combination from the one in use today. 
The logo used from October 1998 to May 30, 1999, differs from the previous version with an exclamation mark added to the end, an increased shadow, letters more rounded, and different letter hues. Note that the color of the initial G changed from green to blue. This color sequence is still used today, although with different hues and font. 
The company logo changed to one based on the Catull typeface and was used from May 31, 1999 to May 5, 2010. The exclamation mark was removed, and it remained the basis for the logo until August 31, 2015. 
The logo used from May 6, 2010 to October 24, 2013, showing a reduced distance of the projected shadow, a change in the second "o" to a different yellow hue and a more flattened lettering. 
The logo used from October 25, 2013 to August 31, 2015, showing flattened lettering and the removal of shadows. 
The new, sans-serif logo unveiled on September 1, 2015. 

Google Doodles

Main article: Google Doodle
The first ever Google Doodle cerebrating Burning Man, which was used on August 30, 1998.

The first Google Doodle was in honor of the Burning Man Festival of 1998.[16][17] The doodle was designed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin to notify users of their absence in case the servers crashed. Subsequent Google Doodles were designed by an outside contractor, until Larry and Sergey asked then-intern Dennis Hwang to design a logo for Bastille Day in 2000. Hwang has been designing the Google Doodles ever since.[18][19]

The Google big logo when a background image/doodle is set on the home page.

From time to time, Google shows a special colorless logo,[20] on a local homepage in recognition of a major tragedy, often for several days. The design was apparently first used on the Google Poland homepage following the air disaster that killed, among others, Polish President Lech Kaczyński in April 2010. A few days later, the logo was used in China and Hong Kong to pay respects to the victims of the Qinghai earthquake.[21]

On September 8, 2010, the doodle once again changed to a greyed-out Google logo that lit up with the standard Google colors as the first 6 letters of a search query were entered. It goes by the name of the Keystroke Logo.[22]

Favicon

Google's favicon from May 31, 1999 to May 29, 2008, was a blue, uppercase "G" on white background. It was accompanied by a border with a red, blue, and a green side.

On May 30, 2008, a new favicon was launched. It showed the lowercase "g" from Google's 1999 logo, colored in blue against a white background, and originally was intended to be a part of a larger set of icons developed for better scalability on mobile devices.[23]

A new favicon was launched on January 9, 2009. It included a left-aligned white "g" with background areas colored in red, green, blue and yellow, with the top, bottom, and left edges of the "g" cropped.[24][25] It was based on a design by André Resende, a computer science undergraduate student at the University of Campinas in Brazil. He submitted it for a contest launched by Google in June 2008 to receive favicon submissions. The official Google blog stated: "His placement of a white 'g' on a color-blocked background was highly recognizable and attractive, while seeming to capture the essence of Google".[24]

The favicon used from August 13, 2012 to August 31, 2015, showed the small letter "g" in white, centered on a solid light blue background.

As of September 1, 2015, Google's favicon shows a capital letter "G", in the tailor-made font for the new logo, with segments colored red, yellow, green, and blue.[26]

References

  1. ↑ "Information about the typeface Catull BQS". Identifont. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Stress Cultlogos". Google. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Happy Birthday Google!". ndtv.com. NDTV Convergence Limited. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Zjawinski, Sonia. "How Google Got Its Colorful Logo." Wired (Online magazine). February 12, 2008. Retrieved on January 5, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Google Search's New Interface Being Tested Now". Retrieved May 6, 2010.
  6. ↑ "The Google design, turned up a notch". Google. May 6, 2010. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  7. ↑ Eddie Kessler: Updating the Google bar: many products, multiple devices – Inside Search. Google Inc. September 19, 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
  8. ↑ Chris Welch: Google reveals new logo and redesigned navigation bar. The Verge. September 19, 2013. Retrieved 2013-09.13
  9. ↑ "Before". Google.com. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
  10. ↑ "After". Google.com. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Doodles". Google.com. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Google's Alphabetized new logo is childish (who moved my cheese?)". computerworld.com.
  13. ↑ "Google's look, evolved". Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Google's original logo designer reflects on a 'bittersweet' run". mashable.com.
  15. ↑ "Google and Other Tech Logo Changes". Surgo Group News. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "Doodle 4 Google". Google.com. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Burning Man Festival". Google.com. August 30, 1998. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  18. ↑ Hwang, Dennis. "Oodles of Doodles." Google (corporate blog). June 8, 2004. Retrieved on July 19, 2006.
  19. ↑ CNN. July 19, 2006. Retrieved on July 19, 2006.
  20. ↑ "'White Logo'". Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  21. ↑ Google Shows Colorless Logo To Chinese Users Over Qinghai Earthquake, Search Engine Land, April 20, 2010.
  22. ↑ "Google". Google. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  23. ↑ Mayer, Marissa (June 6, 2008). "Official Google Blog: "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish". Googleblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  24. 1 2 Mayer, Marissa. "Official Google Blog: Google's new favicon". Googleblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  25. ↑ "New Google Favicon". Googlesystem.blogspot.com. January 9, 2009. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  26. ↑ "Official Google Blog: Google's look, evolved". Official Google Blog.

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