Comments on: Famous logo links past and present?

By: Joe Makala

Joe Makala — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:54:02 +0000

I agree with Rex . . . the logo seems juvenile with not much imagination. The logo is famous because of the company’s success. It’s about time they hired a professional designer to upgrade their logo.

By: Rex Kwondo

Rex Kwondo — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:24:50 +0000

No disrespect to the designer, but that Google logo is a good example of just another college-level logo made famous by the marketing budget behind it rather than any creative design brilliance.

By: Diane Hokans

Diane Hokans — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:09:42 +0000

I agree with Sean that the backstory was invented. This logo does just not seem to have that much consideration put into it. Not that it’s horrible — it just isn’t that thoughtful.

By: Beth Redmond Walsh

Beth Redmond Walsh — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:20:17 +0000

Funny how a name as huge as Google turned out to be such a household word so fast. I can not see it without thinking of the cartoon character Mr. Magoo! I think that says it’s as non-threatening and easy to use Google for anything as it is to turn on a kid’s TV show. The primary colors, the softly embossed font and saying ‘oo’ every time you pronounce the name Google is just fun!

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:42:20 +0000

Remember that the volume of users viewing this page would have cost them a fortune in bandwidth at the time. Plus most sites were very bland text only — then Google brought a splash of colour and stuck with it. The seven-year redesign has passed, but they have resisted to used it.

By: kirsty

kirsty — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:40:17 +0000

One thing I really like about the Google logo is that, because it’s just basically the name typed out, they can then do all these amazing artworks based on it. I collect them!

If the logo itself were more interesting (e.g. some of the earlier ideas) it would be hard to play about with it so much and still be recognisable.

By: mary ramirez

mary ramirez — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:01:05 +0000

1. Branding is the voice of a company. Your brand identifies you to the world, and whether or not you are successful, your brand is your introduction and continues to speak. Look at some other branding that we automatically associate with the company or product: AT&T, Coke, WalMart, Chevrolet, the post office . . . the list goes on and on. Even if the press is bad, we still identify and recognize the logos. So whatever the logo design is, it becomes a visual shorthand and ultimately the brand.

2. What is all the noise about drop shadowing? I think that the subtle use of a drop shadow (especially in Google’s logo) helps bring the type into our real world, gives it a dimension as if we really could pick it up and hold it in our hand. The cyber world seems ethereal and at times unfathomable, so Google’s simplicity makes many of us feel more comfortable.

3. Consider how fascinating it is that Google has evolved from a funny word to not only a noun, but also a verb.

By: Liz M.

Liz M. — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:07:49 +0000

Designed with purpose or by accident . . . doesn’t matter because it works.

I agree that the primary colors make you think of Fisher-Price, and that’s what’s so genius about it. It lets you know that you can use the tool without breaking it. The white space is non-threating and allows you to step right in — I wouldn’t step into a cluttered store (Bing).

By: Amber M.

Amber M. — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:32:14 +0000

The very first time I saw the Google home page, it blew my mind . . . there were no other search engines — or many sites in general — that had clean, sparse designs. “No banner ads? No articles? Whaaaaat?” That was a bigger deal than the typeface and colors in the logo.

By: Tycho

Tycho — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:08:26 +0000

The colors and 3D shading very specifically recall Fisher-Price type preschool toys to my mind. For those of us who recall the burdensome task of internet search engines before Google, back when html itself was the big step forward, this “kindergarten-simple” styling seems very appropriate to their claims of easy searching. This also confers an element of “designed to be used” and therefore not likely to break anything. It was so easy to crash your system in those earlier days, and it was a lot easier to trash your file system, so these were powerful messages.