10 Things You Didn’t Know About Google Doodles
Google Doodles are temporary changes made to the Google logo on the homepage to celebrate holidays, events, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and historical figures.
These doodles are often interactive and can include animations, mini-games, or visual representations of cultural or global milestones.
Here’s 10 fun facts about Google Doodles.
Google Doodle celebrating Willi Ninja
1. The very first Google Doodle was actually an “out of office” message
In 1998, the very first Doodle was published as a way for the company founders Larry and Sergey to let people know they would be out of office for Burning Man.
The very first Google Doodle was published August 30th, 1998 for the Burning Man Festival
2. The official term for the artists that work on Doodles is “Doodler"
The team behind Doodles consists of in-house artists, called “Doodlers,” engineers, designers, program managers, marketers, and cultural consultants. Google also occasionally partners with guest artists and creators from around the world to help bring Doodles to life.
3. A Doodle was nominated for an Emmy Award
In 2018, the first VR enabled/360 video Doodle was published to celebrate Georges Méliès, the pioneering film director and illusionist, on the release date of what is considered to be one of his greatest masterpieces: À la conquête du pôle (The Conquest of the Pole, 1912). The Doodle was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Interactive Media category!
The first VR enabled/360 video Doodle honoring Georges Méliès was nominated for an Emmy Award
4. The most frequently recurring Doodle character is Momo the Cat
Momo is the black cat character that you might have seen in several Doodles – Momo is based on former Doodler Juliana Chen's real cat, born April 15, 2010. You can find Momo defeating ghosts on Halloween, helping the environment on Earth Day, and looking puzzled on Google Doodle’s 404 page.
Momo in the Magic Cat Academy Doodle for Halloween 2020
5. The first same-day Doodle was published when water was discovered on the Moon
Sometimes the Doodlers take weeks or even a year to produce a Doodle, and sometimes they work on a really quick turnaround. A small dedicated team of Doodlers keeps an eye out for events that might be a fit, and that’s what happened on November 13th, 2009 – Jennifer Ham was sitting at her desk at 9 am PT when she stumbled on an article about the discovery of water on the Moon. This Doodle was sketched, drafted, finished and went live on all homepages in four hours!
First-ever same-day Doodle for Discovery of Water on the Moon
6. The first-ever animated Doodle was for Halloween 2000
The first animated Doodle premiered on Halloween 2000 – The O’s were replaced with Jack-o-lanterns and there was a spider dangling from the “L.” Today, animation is a key element of Doodle storytelling.
The first-ever animated Doodle for Halloween 2000
7. The first-ever interactive Doodle experience was a Pac-Man game
The first interactive Doodle game experience was published in 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man – you can still play it to see if you can get a high score!
The first-ever interactive Doodle game experience: Pac-Man
8. The first AI-powered Doodle was to honor Johann Sebastian Bach
The Doodle is an interactive experience using machine learning to compose a two measure melody – the user is prompted to compose a melody of their choice, which then is harmonized by AI into Bach’s signature music style (or a Bach 80's rock style hybrid if you find a the easter egg in the Doodle).
The first AI-powered Doodle honors Johann Sebastian Bach
9. You can see every Doodle ever made
Google has a public archive where you can check out every Doodle ever made! Moreover, you can read about each Doodle, learn about the history of the subject, and often find information about the artist as well. You can also try your skills with interactive Doodles for high scores!
Interactive Doodle game celebrating popcorn
10. You can submit your ideas for Google Doodles
Anyone can submit an idea for a Google Doodle! Just email doodleproposals@google.com with the details. However, keep in mind that the team receives hundreds of requests every single day, thousands of global ideas every year, so you might not get a response to your submission.
Google Doodle for Mid-Autumn Festival 2024
FAQ
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Anyone can submit an idea for a Google Doodle! Just email doodleproposals@google.com with the details. However, keep in mind that the team receives hundreds of requests every single day, so you might not get a response to your submission.
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Anyone can submit an idea for a Google Doodle! Just email doodleproposals@google.com with the details. However, keep in mind that the team receives hundreds of requests every single day, so you might not get a response to your submission.
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For simple access, go to google.com/doodles.
The team behind Doodles consists of in-house artists, called “Doodlers,” engineers, designers, program managers, marketers, and cultural consultants. Google also occasionally partners with guest artists and creators from around the world to help bring Doodles to life. Inquire with doodleproposals@google.com.
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The team behind Doodles consists of in-house artists, called “Doodlers,” engineers, designers, program managers, marketers, and cultural consultants. Google also occasionally partners with guest artists and creators from around the world to help bring Doodles to life. Inquire with doodleproposals@google.com.
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According to ZipRecruiter, the average hourly pay for a Google Doodle in the United States is $20.12 an hour.
The first ever Doodle for Google winner Doodle by Lisa Wainaina: The Doodle for Google contest invites K-12 students to try their hand at drawing a Doodle and compete to see it live on the Google homepage.
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