12 of the Best Google Doodles, Then and Now
The original post went up the day Google honored Samuel Morse in 2009 with a logo written entirely in Morse code. There have been thousands of doodles since. This update keeps the original 12 and adds 8 modern picks that genuinely raised the bar.
Back in 2009, a custom Google logo was still a small event. People emailed each other when one showed up. Some doodles had so much personality the search index would briefly slow down from screenshot traffic. The Google homepage was, for a few hours, a piece of pop culture.
Today, doodles are full mini-games, animated shorts, interactive musical instruments, and real journalism. The job has grown from "decorate the logo" to "do something on the most visited URL on the internet that's worth doing." Here's the original top 12, plus the picks that matter most from what came after.
The original top 12 (from 2009)
Counted up because the best one is at the top.
Birthday of Samuel F. B. Morse
April 27, 2009
The Google logo was rendered entirely in Morse code. Pure nerd flex. Still the doodle that made me write the original post.
Father's Day
June 15, 2003
Early example of Google using the logo to mark family-focused holidays, not just historical events.
Google's 5th Birthday
September 2003
Birthday cake spelling Google. Small, charming, and back when Google still felt like a scrappy startup.
Thanksgiving
November 24, 2005
Warm and seasonal. Set the template for every holiday doodle that followed.
Independence Day
July 4, 2005
Red, white, and blue Google. Simple, but the kind of doodle that ended up in screenshots for years.
Leonardo da Vinci's Birthday
April 15, 2005
Renaissance sketching style. One of the first doodles that genuinely felt like art.
Earth Day
April 22, 2007
Set the recurring Earth Day tradition. Plus put environmental themes on the homepage for billions of people in one click.
Louis Braille's Birthday
January 4, 2006
Logo rendered in Braille. Same energy as the Morse doodle: thoughtful, educational, and surprisingly emotional.
Valentine's Day
February 14, 2009
Classic Valentine's treatment that became the baseline for every February 14 doodle since.
World Cup Kickoff
May 31, 2002
Soccer ball replacing an 'o'. Early example of doodles tying to global cultural events, not just US holidays.
World Water Day
March 22, 2005
Quiet, awareness-driven doodle. Foreshadowed Google's later run of social cause doodles.
Dr. Seuss's Birthday
March 2, 2009
Rendered in classic Seuss illustration style. One of the most-shared doodles of the early era.
8 modern doodles worth adding to the list
These came out after the original post and changed what people expect from a doodle.
Pac-Man 30th Anniversary
May 21, 2010
The first fully playable doodle. People lost an estimated 4.8 million hours of work to it. Changed what doodles could be forever.
Les Paul's Birthday
June 9, 2011
A working guitar you could strum with your mouse or keyboard. Tens of millions of recordings created in one day.
Halloween Magic Cat Academy
October 30, 2016
A full mini-game with a cat hero. The series came back multiple Halloweens and now has dedicated fans.
Hip Hop 44th Anniversary
August 11, 2017
An interactive turntable that let you mix classic hip hop breaks. A masterclass in interactive doodle design.
Doodle Champion Island Games
July 23, 2021
An 8-bit RPG built into the Google homepage. Hours of gameplay, multiple endings, and a cult following.
Stephen Hawking Tribute
January 8, 2022
An animated short narrated in Hawking's own voice. Set the standard for tribute doodles.
Earth Day Climate Time-lapse
April 22, 2022
Real time-lapse photography of glaciers melting and reefs bleaching. Doodles being used to make a serious point on the world's most-trafficked homepage.
2024 Olympic Games Sand Art
Summer 2024
A multi-day animated sand art series celebrating different sports. Showed off doodle craft at peak form.
What doodles actually teach you about branding
Doodles look like a fun side project, but they're a serious branding lesson hiding in plain sight. A few things worth stealing for your own brand work in 2026:
- Earn the right to deviate. Google has the strongest brand recognition on earth, which is exactly why they can mangle their logo into Morse code or a turntable without anyone losing trust. Most small brands try to be playful before they're recognizable. Get the basics locked first.
- Tie creative work to the calendar. Holidays, anniversaries, cultural moments. Doodles always have a hook. Brands that ship random campaigns get ignored. Brands that ride a moment get shared.
- Interactive beats decorative. The doodles that broke into the news (Pac-Man, Les Paul, Champion Island) were the ones you could actually use. Same lesson for landing pages: interactive demos out-convert hero images.
- Honor real people and real causes. The tribute and awareness doodles age the best. The trend chasers feel dated in a year. The same is true for content.
Where to find them
Google maintains an official doodle archive at doodles.google. It's searchable by country and year and is honestly a small rabbit hole worth falling into for an afternoon.
Most small businesses skip the boring brand fundamentals. That's exactly why their creative work never lands. Happy to help get yours in shape.
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