On May 21, 2010, Googlers were greeted with the : a celebration of 30 years of Pac-Man. The iconic Google letters were configured into the classic narrow passageways with neon dots, and when users clicked 鈥渋nsert coin鈥� they could revisit their arcade days and play a round (or two or three or five) of Pac-Man. The description of the Doodle talked about senior Google designer Marcin Wichary鈥檚 childhood growing up watching his dad fix video game machines, and the 鈥済eopolitical鈥� reach of this simple game at the time.
This is pretty indicative of Google鈥檚 Doodle philosophy: simple, fun, and a bit of history and personality thrown in for good measure.
The idea of swapping out Google's logo for a 鈥渄oodle鈥� started before the company even incorporated. In 1998, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin went to Burning Man and behind the second 鈥渙鈥�, letting users know they were out of the office and deep in the desert. The Google logo remained unadorned until 2000, when they asked their intern at the time (now head webmaster Dennis Hwang) to create a Doodle for . Though not the complex Pac-Man game of today, it was so popular that Google decided to continue decorating its homepage when the occasion arose.
Since then, Google has decorated more than 1,000 logos for everything from to . Google says it chooses a variety of holidays, birthdays, and special events that both show off the personality of the company and its 鈥渓ove for innovation."
Google also holds for kids (the prize is a college scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for their school) and even has a that sells everything from T-shirts to stamps with any Google Doodle ever designed.
Got an idea for a Google Doodle? Send it to proposals@google.com. Who knows 鈥� your idea could be the next Google homepage. Need inspiration? Click on to see the next four best interactive Google Doodles.
