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Maurice Sendak Honored with Animated Google Doodle

Josh Wolford — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:45:42 +0000

Today, Google lets the wild rumpus start with an animated Doodle honoring famous American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak.

Sendak was best known for his classic 1963 children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, which has sold millions upon million of copies worldwide and has been adapted into animated shorts and a feature film. Many kids have grown up on the story of Max and his bedroom voyage to the world of the “Wild Things” over the past 50 years.

Sendak was more than just one famous book, however. In his career, Sendak authored a couple dozen books, including 1962′s The Nutshell Library (4 books) and 1970′s In the Night Kitchen – and he illustrated countless others.

He won the prestigious Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are and was eventually awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1996.

Sendak died in 2012 after complications from a stroke. He was born on June 10th, 1928 – so today’s Google Doodle is celebrating what would be his 85th birthday. The lovely animated doodle spins a wheel around some of Sendak’s most beloved works.

[video via ]

Federico García Lorca Gets Google Homepage Doodle

Chris Crum — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:15:06 +0000

Google’s homepage in Spain is currently showing a doodle honoring Spanish poet Federico García Lorca’s 115th birthday.

García Lorca, executed by Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, was known as a member of the Genration of ’27. In addition to poetry, he wrote a number of plays, a film script, and opera. His work also inspired a great deal of poetry, music, theater, film and television by others. His list of poetry collections is as follows (via Wikipedia):

Impresiones y paisajes (Impressions and Landscapes 1918)
Libro de poemas (Book of Poems 1921)
Poema del cante jondo (Poem of Deep Song; written in 1921 but not published until 1931)
Suites (written between 1920 and 1923, published posthumously in 1983)
Canciones (Songs written between 1921 and 1924, published in 1927)
Romancero gitano (Gypsy Ballads 1928)
Odes (written 1928)
Poeta en Nueva York (written 1930 – published posthumously in 1940, first translation into English as The Poet in New York 1940)
Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías 1935)
Seis poemas gallegos (Six Galician poems 1935)
Sonetos del amor oscuro (Sonnets of Dark Love 1936, not published until 1983)
Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter and Other Poems (1937)
Primeras canciones (First Songs 1936)
The Tamarit Divan (poems written 1931-4 and not published until after his death in a special edition of Revista Hispanica Moderna in 1940).
Selected Poems (1941)

View more recent Google doodles here.

Here’s The Winner Of The Doodle 4 Google Contest

Chris Crum — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:09 +0000

On Wednesday, Google announced that Sabrina Brady of Sparta, Wisconsin has been named the national winner of its 2013 U.S. Doodle 4 Google contest. The doodle, titled, “Coming Home” will be featured on Google’s U.S. homepage on Thursday.

Brady is a 12th grade student at Sparta High School. She will receive a $30,000 college scholarship in addition to having her doodle featured. She also gets a Chromebook, and her school gets a $50,000 technology grant.

Google Doodle Team Lead Ryan Germick writes:

Students across all 50 states amazed us with their creative interpretations of this year’s theme, “My Best Day Ever…” From scuba diving to dinosaurs to exploring outer space, we were wowed by the ways young artists brought their best days to life in their doodles.

Sabrina’s doodle stood out in the crowd; it tells the story of her reunion with her father as he returned from an 18 month deployment in Iraq. Her creative use of the Google letters to illustrate this heartfelt moment clearly resonated with voters across the country and all of us at Google.

There were 130,000 submissions to the contest. Google lists the national finalists (who will each win a $5,000 scholarship) here.

Saul Bass Google Doodle Hits The Rest Of The World

Chris Crum — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:30:28 +0000

As previously reported, Google has been running a Google doodle honoring Saul Bass in parts of the world where it is May 8th. The doodle has now worked its way over to our neck of the woods in the U.S.

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer who passed away in April of 1996. May 8th is his birthday (he was born in 1920).

Even if you have never heard of Saul Bass, it’s nearly impossible to not be familiar with at least some of his work. You can watch Google’s doodle animation, and see if anything sticks out to you.

Bass is mostly known for designing film title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. Some of his most famous work includes the title sequence to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, and the AT&T and Bell logos. He also designed the logos for Continental and United Airlines.

Following is a list of his work.

Film title sequences:

Carmen Jones (1954)
The Big Knife (1955)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
The Racers (1955)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
The Shrike (1955)
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
Storm Center (1956)
Attack (1956)
Edge of the City (1957)
Saint Joan (1957)
The Pride and the Passion (1957)
The Young Stranger (1957)
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
Cowboy (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
The Big Country (1958)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
The Facts of Life (1960)
Exodus (1960)
Ocean’s 11 (1960)
West Side Story (1961)
Something Wild (1961)
Advise and Consent (1962)
Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
The Victors (1963)
Nine Hours to Rama (1963)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1965)
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
Grand Prix (1966)
Not with My Wife, You Don’t! (1966)
Seconds (1966)
Such Good Friends (1971)
That’s Entertainment, Part II (1976)
Broadcast News (1987)
Big (1988)
The War of the Roses (1989)
Goodfellas (1990)
Cape Fear (1991)
Doc Hollywood (1991)
Mr. Saturday Night (1992)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Higher Learning (1995)
Casino (1995)

Movie posters:

Carmen Jones (1954)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
Edge of the City (1956)
Storm Center (1956)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Saint Joan (1957)
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
The Big Country (1958) (style b poster)
Vertigo (1958)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Exodus (1960)
The Magnificent Seven (1960) (design not used)
One, Two, Three (1961)
Advise & Consent (1962)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1964)
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
The Firemen’s Ball (1967)
The Two of Us (1967)
Why Man Creates (1968)
Very Happy Alexander (1969)
Exodus (1960)
The Magnificent Seven (1960) (design not used)
One, Two, Three (1961)
Advise & Consent (1962)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1964)
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
The Firemen’s Ball (1967)
The Two of Us (1967)
Why Man Creates (1968)
Very Happy Alexander (1969)
Such Good Friends (1971)
Rosebud (1975)
Brothers (1977)
Notes on the Popular Arts (1977)
Bass on Titles (1978)
The Human Factor (1979)
The Shining (1980)
The Solar Film (1980)
Return from the River Kwai (1989)
Schindler’s List (1993)

Logos and designs:

Alcoa (1963)
AT&T Corporation (1969 and 1983)
Avery International (1975)
Boys & Girls Clubs of America (1980)
Celanese (1965)
Continental Airlines (1968)[10]
Dixie (1969)
Frontier Airlines (1978)
Fuller Paints (1962)
Geffen Records (1980)
General Foods (1984)
Girl Scouts of the USA (1978)
Japan Energy Corporation (1993)
J. Paul Getty Trust (1993)
Kibun Foods (1984)
Kose Cosmetics (1991)
Lawry’s Foods (1959)
Minami Sports (1991)
Minolta (1978)
NCR Corporation (1996)
Quaker Oats (1969)
Rockwell International (1968)
Security Pacific Bank (1966)
United Airlines (1974)
United Way (1972)
US Postage (1983)[11]
Warner Communications (1974)
Wienerschnitzel (1978)
Wesson Oil (1964)
YWCA (1988)

Saul Bass Gets The Google Doodle Treatment

Chris Crum — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:32:30 +0000

Google is running a doodle celebrating the birthday of graphic designer and typographer Saul Bass in parts of the world where the date has changed to May 8th.

Also a filmmaker, Bass is best known for his work on movie title sequences, posters and corporate logos. How many films can you pick out from Google’s animation?

Saul Bass did title sequences for the following films:

He did movie posters for:

Bass also did logos and designs for:

Hat tip to Patrick from DoodleShow, Lists from Wikipedia

Google Celebrates Labour Day With Homepage Doodle

Chris Crum — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:35:21 +0000

Google is celebrating Labour Day with a homepage doodle in countries where the day is celebrated on May 1. This includes a number of countries across Europe and Asia.

Many of these countries, including India, China, Nepal, and Pakistan consider the 1st of May a public holiday. Most offices, banks, schools, etc. remain closed.

Here in the U.S., Labor Day is not celebrated until September. It will be interesting to see if Google reuses this doodle when the time comes in a few months.

Wikipedia has a great breakdown of when Labor Day is celebrated in different countries around the world.

France gets a different doodle today for Fête du Travail:

Here’s a look at the doodles Google ran around the world last week.

St. George’s Day 2013 Celebrated With Google Doodle

Chris Crum — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:36:53 +0000

Google is celebrating St. George’s Day 2013 in the UK with a doodle on its homepage.

The day represents the feast day of Saint George, and is celebrated by Christian churches in several countries, though the doodle appears to be unique to Google’s UK site.

Wikipedia provides a little more background on the day:

As Easter often falls close to Saint George’s Day, the church celebration of the feast may be moved from 23 April. In England, where it is the National Saint’s Day, for 2011 and 2014 the Anglican and Catholic calendars celebrate Saint George’s Day on the first Monday after Easter Week (2 May and 28 April, respectively). Similarly, the Eastern Orthodox celebration of the feast moves accordingly to the first Monday after Easter or, as it is sometimes called, to the Monday of Bright Week.

The doodle itself is interesting, showing St. George protecting a princess from a dragon. Here’s an oil painting called “Saint George and the Dragon” (via Wikimedia commons) depicting a similar scene:

More recent Google Doodles here.

Earth Day 2013 Celebrated with Interactive Google Doodle

Josh Wolford — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:49:19 +0000

For Earth Day 2013, Google is celebrating with an interactive doodle that lets you experience much of what nature has to offer – in animated form, of course. Google’s Earth Day doodle lets you change the seasons, weather, moon, and more.

“Today we are celebrating Earth Day with an interactive doodle that captures a slice of nature’s subtle wonders. We hope you enjoy discovering animals, controlling the weather, and observing the seasons. Use the sightseeing checklist below to make sure you do not miss anything!” says Doodler Leon Hong.

Indeed, Google has provided a Doodle checklist. So, click around and have fun.

Earth Day, as we know it, is celebrated on April 22nd. Back in 1969, the first Earth Day was proposed at a UNESCO conference in San Francisco to be celebrated on March 21st. A month or so later, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson held an additional Earth Day on April 22nd, as an environmental teach-in. In 1990, the April celebration went international, and it is currently celebrated in nearly 200 countries worldwide.

Last year, Google’s Earth Day doodle was also animated, though not quite interactive. The doodle was a time lapse photo of flowers blooming and eventually forming the Google logo.

Chavela Vargas Honored With Google Doodle

Chris Crum — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:34:53 +0000

Google is celebrating the birthday of Costa Rican-born Mexican singer Chavela Vargas with a doodle on its homepage in Mexico.

She was apparently known best for her rendition of Mexican rancheras.

Here’s a look at Google’s knowledge panel for Vargas:

Here, you can see a performance:

India’s First Passenger Train Journey Celebrated With Google Doodle

Chris Crum — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:27:07 +0000

Google is running a doodle on its homepage in India today, celebrating the 160th anniversary of India’s first passenger train journey.

On April 16, 1853, the first passenger train service went between bori Bunder in Mumbai and Thane, covering a distance of 24 kilometers (21 miles), hauled by three locomotives, Sahib, Sindh, and Sultan, according to T. Stanley Babu’s “A shining testimony of progress” (as cited on Wikipedia).

According to the article, “This was soon followed by opening of the first passenger railway line in North India between Allahabad and Kanpur on March 3, 1859.”

On Monday, Google ran a worldwide doodle honoring mathematics pioneer Leonhard Euler.