Deconstructing with Della: Google Doodles
September 04, 2017 |
| James Wong Howe's 118th Birthday Google Doodle, August 28, 2017 |
I love
Google doodles. They are a compelling way to communicate and showcase novel events.
The latest one for Monday, August 28, 2017, celebrating James Wong Howe’s 118th
birthday (he died in 1979), seemed so random it prompted me to find out more
about the doodles and how to get one.
Oh my,
this was a long dive down the bunny hole. I started by reading about Mr. Howe
and his unique work as a cinematographer, his personal dealings with racism and
the impact he had on Hollywood. They have a doodle archive which is more fun than reading an encyclopedia. You can get lost in there for quite a while.
Then, I
went to Google’s Doodle page and found this:
A group of Googlers get
together regularly to brainstorm and decide which events will be celebrated
with a doodle. The ideas for the doodles come from numerous sources including
Googlers and Google users. The doodle selection process aims to celebrate
interesting events and anniversaries that reflect Google's personality and love
for innovation.
They have done over 2,000 doodles. When you look at the one for your current day, they show you other doodles from previous years. For example, August 28th, 2013 was the 50th anniversary of the “I Have a Dream”
speech. On the page they present a map of the reach of that doodle. An
interesting study in what resonates around the world.
The doodles started with the founders of Google putting a
little stick figure behind one of the Google O’s when they were going to the Burning Man festival in 1998 - it was their humourous way of saying they were out
of the office.
You can submit your doodle ideas by email to proposals@google.com. It sounds like they get inundated with suggestions but swear they read them all.
This clever, subtle way of demonstrating Google’s
brand personality keeps them connected to their users and provides those of us
who click with a mini mind break in our day.
To deconstruct, there are numerous ways to showcase
the uniqueness of your organization. After spending many years in an ad agency
and hearing account people tell clients to not mess with their logos, this
example reinforces the need to zag when everybody says zig.
How are you going to zag today?
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