Happy Birthday, Google! 30+ of the Best Google Doodles
Sixteen years ago today, Google was born in a now legendary Palo Alto, CA, garage. In honor of the tech-iversary, we've compiled 30 of our favorite Google doodles.
A way to celebrate the birthdays of pop culture legends and national milestones, the Google Doodle is a nod to the playful side of the company via a day-long redesign of its corporate logo on the site's homepage. The Google Doodle concept started while the search giant was still in its infancy and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin added a stick figure to the logo as a way of saying they were out of the office attending Burning Man in the Nevada desert. Over 1,000 doodles have appeared on Google homepages in the US and abroad in the years since.
A team of Google designers work on the doodles, but they are open to receiving suggestions and doodles themselves from the public. Click on for some major inspiration!
August 10, 2012
May 9, 2011
September 8, 2012
June 9, 2011
August 6, 2011
June 6, 2012
March 6, 2011
June 2, 2012
July 24, 2012
June 5, 2011
April 12, 2011
August 15, 2012
September 5, 2011
April 29, 2011
The wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton (appeared in select countries)
March 8, 2013
Argentina vs. Switzerland
Source: Google
Streets of Rio
"Inspiration from the streets of Rio straight to the homepage." Source: Google
Soccer at the Beach
Source: Google
Chile vs. Brazil
"Viva Chile and Brazil — may the best team win!" Source: Google
Talking to Reporters
Source: Google
US vs. Germany
"May the best team win in today's USA vs. Germany showdown!" Source: Google
Japan vs. Colombia
"Japanese tech fans come up against a Colombian vulture!" Source: Google
France vs. Nigeria
"The ground staff are ready for France vs. Nigeria!" Source: Google
Dance Party
"The World Cup opening ceremony was so inspiring — and what an unbeleafable coincidence — our next doodle has a dancing tree person too. Congrats Brazil!
Want to keep dancing? Here's an alternate version." Source: Google
Mexico vs. Cameroon
"We were so startled by the luchador in this doodle, we got the Cameroon flag wrong on the first go! #realTimeDoodleProblems
Well played, Mexico!" Source: Google
Spain vs. Netherlands
"Fans of Spain and Netherlands go head to head!" Source: Google
Chile vs. Australia
"Every match has winners and losers, but, in the end, it's the dance off amongst fans that really matters." Source: Google
Fútbol Practice
"Practice make perfect — that's why you'll see our letters working on their skills from time to time. Looks easy? You try bouncing a ball on your head in an infinite loop!" Source: Google
Uruguay vs. Costa Rica
"The only thing more stressful than launching real time doodles is coaching a team in the World Cup. Follow the Uruguay vs Costa Rica game's story through the Doodle." Source: Google
England vs. Italy
"Join us for the rumble in the jungle! England v Italy." Source: Google
World Cup Meets Father's Day
"Having a ball with my dad on Father's Day!" Source: Google
Brazilian Way of Life
"Enjoy your Sunday with some Samba and an agua de coco!" Source: Google
Germany vs. Portugal
Source: Google
The Wave
"The football/soccer craze is making waves for . . . just about everyone." Source: Google
US vs. Ghana
"USA and Ghanaian eagles go beak to beak. What an eggcellent game." Source: Google
Paul the Octopus
"Here we have an artist's rendition of the late Paul the Octopus — perhaps the most famous of all psychic cephalopods — trying to choose the winner in the World Cup match from that big aquarium in the sky. Who will it be?? Only Paul knows." Source: Google