The Man Behind Google Artwork

malyn writes "CNN has an article on the artist who designs the custom Google logos for holidays, special events, etc. From the article: '[Dennis Hwang] has been manipulating the six letters in the Google name into shamrocks, fireworks, hearts and goblins since shortly after he got an internship there in 2000. Company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin found out that he was an art major in college. They said "Hey Dennis, why don't you give this a shot,"' and he has been doing it ever since."

If he's that good . . .

[cashman73]

maybe slashdot should hire him to design slashdot logos,... ;-)

Re:If he's that good . . .

[dcdomain]

Wrote about him a while back too, there's an NPR interview with him: http://design.weblogsinc.com/2005/11/18/dennis-hwa ng-the-man-behind-the-google-logos/ [weblogsinc.com]

Re:If he's that good . . .

[neonprimetime]

Gimp?

Re:If he's that good . . .

[gEvil (beta)]

something tells me you completely missed the joke.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:If he's that good . . .

[in2mind]

maybe slashdot should hire him to design slashdot logos,... ;-)

Thats not a joke. Slashdot needs to redesign the logo......
Slashdot looks pretty much the same ever after the recent design upgrade.

Re:If he's that good . . .

[T-Ranger]

Well, the redesign contest had the stated requiremenat that things had to remain more or less the same. A polish, rather then redesign contest, as it were. As for the logo: logos are not the kind of thing you should change. They may have been desigined to a paticular fashion, or not, but if they are good (or well known, which for a logo may be the definition of good), then they just are. Polish, tweeks, sure. But they should remain more or less the same.

Re:If he's that good . . .

[masklinn]

As for the logo: logos are not the kind of thing you should change

Yup, this is probably why Google successfully tweaks it's logo every pair of week or so, and why Reddit followed suit.

I second that!

[alamandrax]

what does a little harmless tinkering around with the logo on special occasions do? only a whole lot of good. kinda like a tribute to google.

Re:If he's that good . . .OMG Ponies!!!

[Nom du Keyboard]

maybe slashdot should hire him to design slashdot logos,... ;-)

Yes, I can't wait to see his take on OMG Ponies !!!.

I smell lawsuit

[neonprimetime]

The logos link to Google search results about the topic, which can drive a lot of traffic to unsuspecting sites.

Fill in your own comment here.

Re:I smell lawsuit

[vancondo]

..because the last thing you want when you put up a public website is people visiting it?

Re:I smell lawsuit

[neonprimetime]

I guess what I meant is those stupid companies arguing over the google rankings again. Who gets first dibs on the search results for the Halloween logo, etc. Just forget it, I guess it was lame :-(

Re:I smell lawsuit

[Milican]

We call it slashdotting here...

JOhn

Re:I smell lawsuit

[imaniack]

Maybe it should be called googlicking? googlicked?

Re:I smell lawsuit

[kripkenstein]

"The logos link to Google search results about the topic, which can drive a lot of traffic to unsuspecting sites."

Fill in your own comment here.


Obviously, given the current legal climate in the US, we can now expec-

Fill in your own 2nd half of this sentence here.

Google logo archive...

[GillBates0]

Google logo archive: here [google.com]. My personal favorite is the Einstein one [google.com].

There was also a Dilbert series [google.com] if anyone remembers it from when it went live.

Re:Google logo archive...

[mapkinase]

I liked so far this: Louis Braille's Birthday - January 4, 2006

Re:Google logo archive...

[gnud]

That one reminded me of a wonderful comic strip - http://www.start.no/tegneserier/m/?1152741600 [start.no]

Re:Google logo archive...

[neonprimetime]

Ditto on that Dilbert series. I want to see more of that!

Re:Google logo archive...

[Anonymous Crowhead]

There was also a Dilbert series if anyone remembers it from when it went live.

I like this Dilbert series [pied.nu] more.

Re:Google logo archive...

[McWilde]

Really? Why?

Re:Google logo archive...

[Ericular]

It's interesting to see how far graphic design has come since Halloween of 1999:

http://www.google.com/holidaylogos99.html [google.com]

Re:Google logo archive...

[jmoriarty]

There is an interesting story behind the Dilbert thread, that is cataloged at the Ex-Googlers [blogspot.com] blog. They approached Scott Adams as a similiar counter-culture spirit to do some logos, but then his original submissions had to be revamped, reduxed, and taken to the pointy-haired bosses within Google.

Part I [blogspot.com], Part II [blogspot.com], and Part III [blogspot.com].

It may be the reason Dilbert took numerous pot-shots at Google in some recent strips.

Re:Google Doodles

[doti]

Not fair this "-1, Redundant".

If you note the time of the comment, it's exactly the same minute of the previous (@17:36 -0300).

Re:He is great!

[saskboy]

Would you really expect a corporation to have anything other than "tastefully" bland artwork for holidays or events? I just don't see Google ever featuring a pair of boobs for the 'O's in the name, to celebrate breast cancer awareness day. Also because they'd be ripping off Booble's logo.

funny

[TrippTDF]

It's funny how getting in on the ground floor of something like Google can let one individual stand out like this... Imagine if Google decided now to start putting up cystom art with each holiday. Due to their size, I'm sure it would be a huge heck of a mess... getting an artist, deciding on designs, figuring out what goes with the corporate principles. He's a lucky guy, getting to do that on his own... I can barely get approval for a logo for our intranet, that will only be seen by 20 people, due to the issues I raised above.

Re:funny

[King_TJ]

Yeah... I never realized they had just one person doing all of those logos! I guess I just assumed it was a tradition carried on by different folks in the design team. It's a nice touch, especially since their site is pretty basic and uncluttered. It allows the art to really stand out.

Re:funny

[MichaelSmith]

Yeah... I never realized they had just one person doing all of those logos!

Google have a couple of Australian specific logos for special days like anzac day. They have always looked spot on to me and I wonder if the same (presumably american) guy does those ones as well, or if they contract them out.

Re:Not shocked

[kn0tw0rk]

And if you troll/browse places like deviantart.com you will see the best and worst of it.
But what does it take to become known for your art? Usually a lucky break because of someone you know.
I'd be extremely happy to get such a break as he did, but until that comes along, I keep working my day job and doing my art as a hobby.
Though I admit while I have some talent as an artist, I dont think that I'd be able to fill that niche.

Kind of...

[daddyrief]

This guy kind of says the phrase 'kind of' kind of too often.

Read the summary and...

[tacokill]

Go back and re-read the summary. Then add "...and he's a very rich man." at the end of it. Sounds kinda sweet, doesn't it.

Oh and also, because that's what he is.

They did have Scott Adams/Dilbert do one ...

[xmas2003]

Interesting writeup from an XGoogler [blogspot.com] about how that turned out ..

It says something about google's HR

[bepolite]

Any company that can identify, hire, promote, motivate, and retain people like this is going to be successful... oh and have great logos!

Google be Praised

[Sigg3.net]

Any company that [is Google] is going to be successful..
..unless invaded by monster robots infecting everything with Sony rootkits!

Ok, ok, I'm just too tired of the GooglePraise. He's good. No, he's great.
It's just that.. it's a search engine, all right? A good search engine.
Let's not pretend it makes farts smell like flowers.

Re:It says something about google's HR

[MichaelSmith]

Any company that can identify, hire, promote, motivate, and retain people like this is going to be successful... oh and have great logos!

Its like the early days of HP and we all know what happened to that.

So how come no logo for Memorial Day?

[Cr0w T. Trollbot]

The lack of one was rather conspicuous compared to the very minor and international holidays they've commemorated.

Crow T. Trollbot

How many, and how much?

[phorm]

This job has been mentioned a few times and I've always wonder how much he makes at it, and how many logos etc he has to make. The article points out it's on 20% of what he does, but not really what else he does (and of course, mentioning pay-rate is usually considered rude).

It also mentions how sometimes sites suffer an effect similar to a slashdotting through being linked from the google logos, so I found if google might consider coordinating with some of those a little better to offer temporary mirrori

Re:How many, and how much?

[tehgimp]

I know people who know him, and he joined Google pretty early in the company as an engineer. So he's doing pretty damn well.

doodle

[giriz]

http://www.google.com/doodle.html [google.com]

http://www.google.com/doodle2.html [google.com]

http://www.google.com/doodle3.html [google.com]

http://www.google.com/doodle4.html [google.com]

and so on....

http://www.google.com/doodle11.html [google.com]

Getting rich from Google doodles

[cnet-declan]

Unfortunately the CNN.com article left out an interesting nugget of information: Google doodling can be quite lucrative.

We mentioned in this CNET News.com piece how Mr. Hwang cashed in $489,000 worth of stock in one sale (and that was when Google was much less richly valued): http://news.com.com/2061-10786_3-5447373.html [com.com]

No love for Christmas?

[Percent Man]

Does anyone know why they've got artwork for, say, Thanksgiving every single year, and some seemingly off-mainstream ones (Persian New Year, e.g.), but they've not ever done Christmas or Chanukah? All they have is some "holiday" mumbo-jumbo with snowmen. Is this yet another win for the politically correct crowd, or is something less sinister at work?

Re:No love for Christmas?

[wiredlogic]

Religious holidays are off-limits. Some people will inevitably get all up in arms because they feel left out or under-represented. This was disussed in his NightLine interview a few weeks ago.

Re:No love for Christmas?

[suggsjc]

While I do respect others rights, etc. I find it amazing that we bow to extreme minorities to avoid offending someone, despite the fact that (especially in the case of Christmas) millions would get enjoyment out of it.

Oh well

Re:No love for Christmas?

[geekoid]

Why do the have Saint Patricks day then?

Re:No love for Christmas?

[JacksBrokenCode]

I would guess their reasoning is that now it's more of a drinking holiday and less of a "let's celebrate the Catholic patron saint of Ireland" day. But then again, they did... Holi (several times) - A Hindu holiday Halloween (several times) - Commercialized now, but with religious roots (much like Christmas) Easter (several times) - Commercialized, but still very religious also. Valentine's Day (several times) - Commercialized, but religious roots. Yes, you have to dig a bit hard to find the religious his

Re:No love for Christmas?

[JacksBrokenCode]

My bad, meant to hit preview.
_________________________________________________ _ __

I would guess their reasoning is that now it's more of a drinking holiday and less of a "let's celebrate the Catholic patron saint of Ireland" day.

Other religious holidays they did...
Holi (several times) - A Hindu holiday
Halloween (several times) - Commercialized now, but with religious roots (much like Christmas)
Easter (several times) - Commercialized, but still very religious also.
Valentine's Day (several times) - Commercial

Re:No love for Christmas?

[soft_guy]

I'm so sick of this "we christians are such victims" crap. "war on christmas" crap.

The REAL war on Christmas was when it turned into "spend all the money you possibly can" day.

Re:No love for Christmas?

[cyborg_zx]

If I was not from a northern climate prone to cold weather at that time of year I could get upset by the implication that there'd be snowmen about.

Politically correct? It's an amateur attempt if that's so.

Taking issue with CNN's intro summary

[wombert]

"Dennis Hwang may be the most famous unknown artist in the world -- his work doesn't hang in galleries or museums, but it's been viewed hundreds of millions of times."

So, how is this different from someone who designs the logo of a national (or international) fast-food chain, or the package art for a widely distributed consumer product?

Even if it's not 100% of his job duties, he's being paid to produce artwork to build & reinforce a brand. Sounds like the job a *lot* of graphic artists hold, and I

Re:Taking issue with CNN's intro summary

[L. VeGas]

This is very true. Back in the daaaay, I used to make those simple electronic sign animations that you see in front of shopping centers and so on. These signs were sold nationally. I did some rough calculations one time and realized that my work had been seen hundreds of millions of times, far more than any of my old film school peers' movies.

slashdotting

[doti]

From TFA: "Sometimes we unfortunately take some sites down, so we have to cycle through different search queries midday,"

Have you heard of Google Cache? Just link to it instead if the site goes down.

20% of his job?!

[Jugalator]

Now he's in charge of all Google's webmasters, and designing the logos is only about 20 percent of his job -- but that doesn't mean it's not a lot of work.

Sorry, but that really sounds a lot like thumb rolling for him at Google then...

The occasional art for a few holidays and events a year is a FIFTH of his workload? Jeez!

I wonder if it's a misleading number from CNN.com, but somehow I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually true as it's in line with my Google work environment prejudices. :-p

Re:20% of his job?!

[pe1chl]

What you may not know is that many local versions of google (google.countrycode) have this art for their local holidays as well.

So, there is more than the few holidays you know about.

Nikola Tesla

[MasaMuneCyrus]

He missed Nikola Tesla's 150th, though. Google'd better through one hell of a 151st to make up for it...

Wasn't he sued...

[Nom du Keyboard]

Wasn't he, or Google, sued by some dead artist's wife for ripping off the artist's "style" in some homage he did to that particular artist? A truly meritless suit if I've ever heard of one.

Re:Wasn't he sued...

[Javaman59]

Funny thing is, it's happened twice! First time was in 2002, when they did a Salvador Dali tribute, and second time was in 2006 with a Miro tribute. http://management.silicon.com/government/0,3902467 7,39158308,00.htm [silicon.com] Both times the complaints were settled quickly when Google agreed to take down the logo, without admitting fault.

Re:Wasn't he sued...

[Carlos Rodriguez]

Curiously, they both were Spanish artists. I wish I could say it is mere [zeropaid.com] coincidence [cdfreaks.com]...

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Sigh

[giorgiofr]

Mac person = Goth look?! Where did that come from?

Slashdot Logo

[tmh - The Mad Hacker]

I think it's high time he made one for all of us ./ers, eh?
Maybe something simple like this: http://boling.us/temp/google-slashdot.png [boling.us]
:-)

Re:Slashdot Logo

[giriz]

It's /. You typed ./ (were you working in *nix Terminal?)

Re:Slashdot Logo

[tmh - The Mad Hacker]

Doh! Who turned my keyboard around backwards? At least I didn't use a backslash! {grin}

Re:Oh, CNN. How we've fallen.

[Millenniumman]

What about good, important stories?

Re:Oh, CNN. How we've fallen.

[baadger]

..."a wide variety of topics" being Google?

And damn where are you such that it's raining, i'll swap you for a 35-38 degC heatwave.

Re:Yahoo

[MaelstromX]

You mean like they did on December 26, 1996 [archive.org]? Yes, how unoriginal of them, trying to pull a fast one on us knowing full well that Google would do the same almost a half decade later.

Re:Yahoo

[8ball629]

The point is, they are not lamely ripping off the idea. If they were doing it before Google, maybe Google ripped the idea off of them. It doesn't matter WHO made it popular.

Been going on for years

[kmahan]

This has been going on for literally decades. Lots of old "time sharing" systems would add custom MOTDs for holidays. The University of Illinois Plato System used to customize the "clock page" on the login display (512x512 plasma display terminals back in the '70s!). It got turned into a pumpkin on Halloween, a Christmas tree on christmas, a turkey on ThanksGiving http://www.platopeople.com/whatsnew.html/ [platopeople.com] midway down the page is an example image from 1973.

Re:Been going on for years

[cmdr_beeftaco]

not to mention the Mac video game Dark Castle [wikipedia.org] that would decorate the dungeon with Christmas trees on Dec 25th. Those rats with the plague were mencing.

Re:Been going on for years

[KlaymenDK]

O man I'm not the only one to have noticed that! :o) \o/ I never got to cruble more than 3 pillars of the knight's throne, though, so I never saw it completed. :(

Of course, where I live x-mas isn't on the 25th, and I never actually played it on that date, but I had this thing for ResEdit back in the day ... that's how I found it. (Sidenote: did the same to Transylvania, and ended up with a bunch of answers that I didn't know the questions for ;o)...)

Re:Been going on for years

[Mr2001]

Rise of the Triad did the same thing for various holidays. This loading screen [fpsteam.it] appeared on Christmas, and on that day the game music was also replaced with a version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

Re:Wow, he's Asian!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

I happen to have loads of asian friends in the tech industry and many of them are artists and programmers.

You might well note that asians are often good at fine art due to the very nature of their writing system.

Re:I'm amazed

[UbuntuDupe]

The ACLU has never interfered in the private religious activities conducted by a business. It's only when government gets involved that the ACLU cries foul. For example if it's a government project, or that business gets special subsidies from the government, or that government is providing the business with free police, fire protection, and road service.

Re:I'm amazed

[swimmar132]

Why would the ACLU be involved? If anything, they'd protect Google's rights to display what they want.

Re:I'm amazed

[Anonymous Coward]

"Why would the ACLU be involved?"

Look... if Bill O'Reilly says they're evil, then they're evil! Don't expect me to think beyond that!

Re:I'm amazed

[wombert]

As noted here [slashdot.org], the doodles aren't exactly religious or specific to "Christmas" (or other specific religious December holidays). Go review the "holiday" logos: they have snow, lights, and gift exchanges, but no visible Christmas trees, no Nativity scene, no menorahs or dreidels, no Kwanzaa references - nor even any people, so far as I can tell...

Re:I'm amazed

[cyborg_zx]

I would have thought Bastille day would be more of a concern for Americans - you still hate the French right?

Re:I'm amazed

[Turn-X Alphonse]

I'd be willing to bet 99% of Americans have never met a French person. In my exprience they're very nice people.

Of course there's good and bad in all, but in general I don't think theres anything wrong with the French which is a pissing contest betweem two nations who both want to claim to be the best in the world.

Re:I'm amazed

[JacksBrokenCode]

Hi Doesn't-Get-The-Joke-Guy, how are you today?

Re:I'm amazed

[Turn-X Alphonse]

I'm fine thank you honey. Hows yourself?

Re:I'm amazed

[JacksBrokenCode]

I's doin' pretty good. Thanks for askin'. Toodles!

Re:I'm amazed

[ironring2006]

I'm guessing you missed this one:
http://www.google.com/logos/bastilleday02.gif [google.com]