Back in 1999, Ruth Kedar was teaching design at Stanford University, California. While here she was introduced to two students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two students were looking for a designer who could design a logo and website and Ruth was invited to attend a meeting. The first time she met with the Page and Brin they told her they were establishing a company based on internet searches and the youthful pair were planning on giving people free, instant access to information about any subject. “It’s going to be called Googol,” smiled Larry Page, “A mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeroes”.
“Most of the companies that offered searches at the time were big portals like Lycos, Netscape and Hotbot, and results of the searches were similar to results from the Yellow Pages: If you wanted to appear in them you had to pay,” Kedar said. “This was the beginning of the era of gathering information on the Web. Sergey and Larry wanted to do something else, what we call today an ‘organic search’ or a ‘natural search’, which brings relevant results. They already believed then that the future of the internet was hidden in searches”.Page and Brin were clear on what the logo should achieve. They wanted something that would clearly differentiate them from the other search players as well as embody their unique vision. These other players were commercial portals first, and search engines second. Google wanted to convey that it was as a search provider first and foremost. It offered fast, comprehensive, and above all trustworthy search results.Based on these guidelines Ruth Kedar explored many directions. At the time connections were slow, screens only displayed 256 colours and Brin insisted that a maximum of 24 words be used on the webpage because speed load was such an issue.
Ruth describes the logo that was finally chosen as being, “Playful and deceptively simple. The design subtle as to look almost non-designed, the reading effortless. The colours evoke memories of child play, and the texture and shading of each letter is done in an unobtrusive way resulting in lifting it from the page while giving it both weight and lightness. It is solid but there is also an ethereal quality to it.”
Simple as it is, the hero of the design is the name itself. “From the outset, it was clear to us that the name of company had to stand at the centre of the logo,” she said. “It must be remembered that at the time, many people were afraid to use the internet, and it was important to broadcast something user-friendly both on the home page and in the logo. Something simple, that you didn’t need to be scared of, something catchy and full of life.”
When asked why the logo hasn’t changed for many years, Kedar replies, “It still looks very different from anything out there. I think one of the great successes is the fact that when you say the word Google, you see the logo in front of you.”
John Fountain, freelance copywriter and writer. Follow on twitter – Fountainjohn
