“Have you ever been tapping your fingers on your desk, looking at the Google homepage, and then realized something?
That colorful Google logo, a common sight in our daily online life, is more than letters. It tells the story of a growing tech giant. Hello, curious people and design fans! Today, I’m exploring the fascinating journey of the Google logo.
It’s about more than just font and color changes. From its fun, early style to the sleek look we know now, Google’s logo history is not just about branding. It’s about our journey in the changing digital world.
So, grab your favorite coffee ☕, and let’s start this colorful adventure. We’ll discover the secrets behind each change in the famous Google logo 🌐.”
1996: The Earliest Google Logo
Google was not included in the search engine’s initial logo. BackRub was the company’s original name, proposed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
The search engine’s basic task was to browse the backlinks on the internet, which is why they chose this name.
By 1997, they had gradually changed the company’s name to “Google,” which is a word that comes from the Latin word “googol,” which means “10 to the 100th power.”
This name was chosen mainly because of Google’s capacity to quickly and conveniently offer users a wealth of data.
1998: The First (real) Google Logo
Though the original Google logo was created in 1997, it was only used for the beta version and served as a model for all future logo designs.
In 1998, a title case phrase with each letter drawn in one of four colors—red, green, blue, or yellow—became the first official logo. The wordmark was created using the transitional serif typeface Baskerville Bold.
Fun fact: The revamped Google logo included a blue exclamation point for a while after it was added later in the same year.
According to sources, it was done to match the punctuation in the Yahoo logo. ! ‘s The lettering now looked three-dimensional and had a pale grey shadow.
1999-2010: Google Logo Designs by Ruth Kedar
In 1999, Google was already a well-known search engine that gave consumers instant access to any information or answer to their questions.
It was already aiming to establish itself as one of the top 5 brands in the world. Ruth Kedar, a Stanford assistant professor who had designed a few logo design prototypes, was introduced to Brin and Page in 1999 by a mutual friend.
Omission Of Exclamation Point
She gave the current design a 2D shape and used a new typeface, the Catull BQ serif font, which has exquisite bold lines and pointed serifs.
Magnifying glass and crosshairs design
Kedar now became a little more adventurous and played around with various color combinations and two overlapping Os.
Thicker lines and shadows
The next designs reflect the latest Google logo. They looked to be fresher and more quirky than their earlier works. Kedar added thicker lines and shadows to the letters to make them stand out.
Omission of the magnifying glass
The eighth layout seemed the most straightforward of all. Kedar aimed to demonstrate Google’s versatility by going beyond its role as a search engine (hence the omission of the magnifying glass).
Use of slanted letters
To underline Google’s forward-thinking attitude, she also jumbled the basic colors’ traditional sequence.
Changing the color of the letter “o” from yellow to orange
The final design is one of the most minimal yet eye-catching of them. From 1999 to 2010, this was Google’s official symbol.
Google updated its logo once more in May 2010 by removing the drop shadowing and changing the color of the letter “o” from yellow to orange.
2015: Brand New Google Logo
Google believed that its logo needed to be updated in 2015. For a week, seasoned designers from different cities met in New York to create the IT stalwart’s new visual identity and brand image.
The lettering of the 2015 revamp of the logo kept the multicolor pattern of the earlier version, but the style and shape of the characters were completely transformed.
The new inscription uses Product Sans, a bold sans-serif design made especially for Google. The letter mark “O” now has two straight circles in place of the previous lettering’s slant.
For use on a wide range of platforms, Google’s designers also designed other versions of the logo, such as the rainbow “G” often seen on the company’s mobile apps.
For Google’s designers, switching from a serif to a sans-serif font made it much easier to convert the design to different broadcasting devices, especially mobile.
Because each letter has a small serif or glyph at the edge, serif fonts are widely known to have scaling problems.
They have more clarity issues than their sans-serif counterparts when displayed in various small sizes. In addition, a fresher, livelier, and more approachable design was planned for the new logo. Or, to put it another way,
Google wants its users to think of it as a hip tech company rather than a monstrous corporation, to be warned.
Google- A Dynamic Design in The Logo World
The new Google logo is also dynamic. As a result, when you start a voice search on your smartphone or tablet, you’ll see the Google dots bouncing while they wait for your inquiry.
These dots align into an equalizer as you speak, responding to your query. While Google displays the search result, the tuner transforms into wavy dots.
In a blog post by the Google design team, it was said that a whole variety of expressions were created, including listening, thinking, answering, incomprehension, and confirmation.
The dots move over predefined geometric arcs and follow a typical set of quick softening curves, even though their bouncing can seem to be randomized.
The Creation and Innovation of the Google Doodle
Google Doodle, a temporary modification of the original Google logo, was first introduced in 1998. It’s interesting to note that this occurred before the company became a brand.
Page Sergey was attending the Burning Man festival. They drew a stick figure below the second O of the logo as an “out of office” sign.
Related: Google Brand History, Brand Value, And Brand Strategies
The Google Logo’s Colors: What Do They Mean?
Google’s primary logo has remained relatively consistent despite the fact that it is sometimes updated on the homepage of the website to honor special days and significant events.
Since Larry Page created the logo in 1997 using the graphics tool GIMP, it has been a simple, vibrant, and easily recognizable design.
The design has seen numerous changes since then, but the color scheme has largely remained the same.
So, does the use of these colors in the Google logo have any specific meaning? Check out what key message they deliver.
The colors used in the Google logo are unique and vital to the brand’s visual identity. You’ll note that most of them use the same color palette if you look at how Google’s logo has changed over time.
These colors serve numerous purposes and increase brand reputation and user experience. Ruth Kedar picked the primary color scheme for the logo.
Ruth considered a variety of color options. Initially, she desired the logo to include each of the primary colors. The decision was taken in an effort to make users of all cultures more accustomed to the Google logo color.
The designer gave the Google logo’s “l” a secondary hue to express the idea that the company is continuously pushing the boundaries.
The Google logo’s twin Os are red. #db3236 Hex | 219, 50, 54
Yellow: hex #f4c20d, RGB: 244, 194, 13.
The logo’s color scheme was especially intended to emphasize the business’s quirky and unorthodox mindset.
Google wanted its logo to quietly but effectively portray futuristic dynamism and innovation.
Google Logo Font
The IT giant updated its logo on September 1, 2015, marking its greatest change since 1999. In place of the former old-style serif typeface Catull, the new logotype was created using a bespoke, geometric sans-serif typeface termed Product Sans.
A bolder, more readable, and pixel-friendly alternative to the traditional serif font was a refreshing change. Every screen resolution is compatible with it, and it is dynamic.
The whole Google ecosystem makes use of the same logo fonts. The Google favicon, used for both its mobile app and websites, displays the logo in bold type. The Google Plus and Google Maps logos use the same bespoke font.
Google Play Logo
The online store’s name, Android Market, was changed to Google Play in 2012, and the Google Play logo has seen various changes.
Although the triangular shape of the logo hasn’t evolved since it first debuted, the colors and wordmark have undergone some tweaking.
Bolder, richer colors are used in the April 2016 revision of the icon. The logo has a flat appearance.
Conclusion
Indeed, one of the most influential companies in the world is Google, and its impact will only grow over time.
Even though the company has made a few rash choices, such as the acquisition of Motorola Mobile in 2013, its incredible success as a search engine and a provider of tech solutions has made up for all the earlier errors.
The Google logo is probably one of the most easily recognizable icons in the entire globe because of its colorful, eccentric, and easy-to-read typography.
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Marketing | Branding | Blogging. These Three Words Describe Me in The Best Way. I Am the founder of Burban Branding and Media, a Self-Taught Marketer with 10 Years of Experience. Helping Startups/ Companies/ and Small Businesses to Enhance Their Business Through Branding and Marketing. On A Mission to Help Small Businesses to Be a Brand.
