As I will explain to you, later on, Doodles have a very big cognitive and emotional benefits. The first doodle was designed in 1998. When Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin used it as an out-of-office while they were at a burning man festival.
They wanted to let users know they were away in case the servers crashed (turns out there was a time when Google would be affected by two guys going to a party). The next doodle wasn’t until 2000, to celebrate Bastille Day. Users liked it, and the interns who designed them got promoted and more doodles followed. Now the team aims to produce around 400 doodles a year.
Whereby, 50-100 of these are animated, and 12 are fully interactive. In fact, doodles are so important to Google that they even got a patent for them. That’s a lot of effort. Which begs the question – what are these things? And what are they doing for a company like Google?
What Are Doodles?
Doodles are spontaneous uncensored marks that are made quickly and can take many forms. From abstract patterns or designs to images of concrete objects. However, these marks are far being the mindless scribbles of a distracted mind. All in all, doodling has cognitive and emotional benefits.
Even experts and graphologists say that our subconscious scribblings, be they of stars or zigzags, can indicate a huge range of personality traits. Or even secrets in our past. In that case, it has emerged that Doodles say more about our personalities than we may ever realize.
Experts have revealed our subconscious scribblings can show we have a selfish side, are feeling the pressure at work – and even that we’ve got skeletons in our cupboards. Surprisingly, the shapes and objects that are doodled or drawn, the color of ink used and the position of the scribble on the page can all provide clues into our state of mind. As well as our life outlook, motivations, and much more.
Which Are Examples Of Doodles?
The most popular forms of doodle art are shapes and patterns – 69 percent draw in this way. An arch shape for instance can indicate someone is secretive, while retraced doodles – going over your doodle in the same spot – are often a sign of being overworked.
Criss-crosses can be a sign of anxiety, straight lines suggest someone is a ‘no-nonsense’ type. While pointed shapes can indicate an ambitious and competitive nature. Squares are often indicative of those who like organization and to be in control – and tend to have meticulous planning skills.
On the other hand, circles and round shapes typically indicate someone is friendly and kind – this type of doodler is also motivated by love and they don’t like conflict. The hidden meanings were revealed after makers of the 4 Colours pen, BIC, teamed up with doodle experts
They had also included consultant graphologist, Tracey Trussell, to launch their Design and Shine competition. Tracey Trussell, said: “Doodles are like little maps that guide us in the exploration of people’s psyches. Read and learn more about that in this article.
What Is A Google Doodle?
A Google Doodle refers to an artistic expression of Google’s logo on its search engine homepage. Notably, Google often creates a Doodle to commemorate a noteworthy figure’s birthday, a holiday, an anniversary, or another significant event.
It’s important to realize, Google Search news & results homepage started honoring people, events, anniversaries, and holidays with a doodle designed by one of its engineers in 1999. And from its inception, the company has since then honored an array of African personalities.
Those honored include;
- Dr. Herbert Kleber | Honoured for Drug Addiction Treatment,
- Nobel Peace Prize winner and world-renowned environmentalist Wangari Maathai, and Dr. Margaret Ogola,
- South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba, Stephen Keshi, former captain and coach of the Super Eagles, Nigeria’s national soccer team.
The doodles started as a small thing, but have grown into an integral part of how we think of Google. They make them a company we see as fun. We think of them as interesting, intelligent people doing interesting, intelligent things. And by so doing, We trust them.
How Do I Make A Doodle?
Google doodles don’t give a direct boost to the bottom line, and they come with seemingly unnecessary risk. But, the reason they exist, the reason that any content exists, is simple. “We make content because we’re doing more than just selling stuff.”– Google doodlers.
In the initial phase, Doodles were neither hyperlinked nor animated. That’s why they are plain interactive images with hover-text describing the subject or expressing a holiday greeting.
For example, as seen, especially, through Dr. Herbert Kleber today on Google’s Homepage. As well as Dr. Margaret Ogola’s Commemoration on Google Kenya Homepage (June 13, 2019).
To make your own doodle,
- Download or print the entry form.
- Doodle: Artists create their doodles using any materials they want.
- Write Doodle description – Write an artist statement to tell us a bit more about what you have drawn and how it represents something that inspires you. …
- Submit: Enter the contest.
In reality, the Google Doodle team (yes, there’s a whole team that does this for a living) is about ten people. They spend thousands of hours thinking up, designing, and coding them. That’s a fair amount in wages alone.
That in mind, you can read and learn more about Google Doodles and how you can create yours in their exclusive guide here.
What Is The Purpose Of Doodles?
From the above details, you already know that those little pictures or animations that sometimes take over the Google homepage are called doodles. And the weird thing is, considering I see them more often than I see some family members, I’ve never really given them much thought.
I’ve clicked some, played around on some of the interactive ones. But I’ve never stopped to think about how much they must cost to make. So I did some research (of course, via Google). And it turns out those fun little distractions don’t come cheap.
Google processes 3.5bn searches every day. Those people will be using Google regardless of the doodle of the day. Has anyone ever thought that they might use a rival search engine, only to be brought back by the celebration of the 131st anniversary of the hole puncher?
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Google’s revenue comes from ad clicks, but the main source for the Google doodle is the homepage (which is ad-free). It does also appear at the top of each search too, but if anything here it’s a distraction.
It’s taking people away from the search they made (with all those juicy relevant ads). And also, putting them into a search they had no intention of making (and therefore less relevance for ads). The doodles have not been without controversy.
One particular analysis showed a skew towards white men being featured by Google. Though there have been doodles to controversial figures or uploaded at controversial times. There have even been criticisms for doodles not done and opportunities missed.
You can see some of The 10 best Google Doodles of all time
One doodle to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man was said to have caused $120m in lost productivity. Another of a playable guitar for Les Paul potentially cost $268.4m.
I’m taking these numbers with a pinch of salt. After all, the users were people looking for a distraction, they probably would have spent that time on Facebook, or cat videos (hey, it was 2011). Anything but working.
But if we just consider just the raw time users spend on them, 10.7 million hours for the Les Paul doodle, that still adds up to a hefty amount of distraction. Not to mention, work for the Google servers, and none of which is fundamentally helping the company.
Who Makes The Google Doodles?
The Google Doodle actually began its life as a humorous out-of-office message for the company’s co-founders, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page. To let everyone know they had gone to the Burning Man festival, they placed the festival’s icon behind the second ‘o’ on their own company’s logo.
It is fitting that what has become a forum for sophisticated artistic and technical expression began life as a stick figure. We can trace the Doodle’s development over time. From a simple stick man to an interactive multimedia hub that educates and entertains on a variety of subjects.
How Do Doodles Change Our Thinking?
According to Google doodle, a big part of the content is showing who you are. And the doodles show a softer side of Google. A human side. This is perhaps more important for Google than it is for any other company in the world.
Not only is Google a huge business with more money than some countries, but it also got to be that big because it serves as the gateway to the world’s knowledge. After all, there’s a fundamental paradox Google has to deal with. For instance, people need to trust them as an unbiased source of information.
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Their entire business model is to make money from ads. This threatens to undermine that trust. There have been issues before (such as the ongoing antitrust case in the EU). If they get the balance wrong and lose that trust, they risk being seen as biased. In particular, feeding us only the information they want us to see.
That’s some full-on Fahrenheit-451-meets-Skynet shit. In short, one of their main design ideas, the appeal of doodles is how “it shows the human behind the machine.” This is even more important as there are fewer and fewer people and more and more machines.
Read Also: How Google Discover Works | A Step-by-step User Guide
Google’s deep learning is now responsible for ranking your searches. And no one knows for certain what it could be doing in the future. And as the tech progresses, it’s more important than ever for Google to reassure users there is a person behind the machine.
The doodles are a chance for Google to leave users with a piece of information they didn’t know. And by doing so, demonstrates that Google themselves are less important than the information they’re curating. But, are they that important? You can read and learn more about the 7 Benefits of Doodling and How to Get Started.
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