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In the early days, Google would take submissions for art over Twitter, Duffy explained in fact, one of his co-workers got their job by replying to a Tweet. “If we can’t hire guest artists, we at least run every topic through folks in that area, to make sure we’re getting things right,” Duffy said. The team also has volunteers globally who help consult for their areas and markets. “If there’s an artist who was really popular across Europe, and never scratched American culture, then maybe only Europe will get a given Doodle,” he explained. So, we’ll find an Argentinian artist to work on the Doodle for a couple of months.” Some regional Google Doodles created by guest artists.ĭuffy said people are surprised by the number of regionally-specific Google Doodles.
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“If we’re doing Argentina National Day, but we don’t have any Argentinian artists on the team, we want to make sure that the art is as culturally resonant as possible, because it is specifically focusing on that country. This practice is also common for country holidays. Similarly, for Veterans Day, Google hired vets to illustrate a Doodle. The company didn’t have eight women animators on the team at the time, so it outsourced. For example, in 2018, Google contracted artists for its Women’s Day Doodle, which included eight individual animations and stories. Then, artists with specific identities and experiences work on these Doodles. Google consults employee resource groups within the company (such as Pride at Google, Black Googler Network, Disability Alliance, etc), and these groups are included in development meetings and in project review. Individual, non-interactive Doodles take about 12 weeks to complete.Īdditionally, Duffy said the team strives to handle each Doodle respectfully and authentically. Once topics are whittled down to about 500 from the initial set, artists on the Google Doodle team will claim which they are most interested in working on, and production begins. Google also reviews the requests for legal clearance (to ensure it doesn’t have to secure rights from any estates).
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The goal is to diversify as much as possible, which includes representing minority groups and covering a variety of topics. The ideas are collected over a year in advance, with the team finalizing the schedule for the following year in late summer of the current one.ĭuffy explained that once submissions are collected, art directors and a team of 12 artists review each one. Both worked on the Champion Island Games Doodle.ĭoodles begin as ideas from Google employees – anyone in the company can submit an idea for a Doodle, celebrating holidays, events, people (though only non-living people), and more. He joined the Doodles team after his friend Nate Swinehart, an animator on the team, referred him for an opening.
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He began his career at Dreamworks Animation with How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Penguins of Madagascar, before moving to 2K Games and eventually Disney, where he worked in Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) on Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange. Following its publication, The Beat spoke to Duffy to learn more about Google Doodles.ĭuffy joined the team as a producer four years ago, and has worked on Google Doodles involving “engineering, interactivity, music videos, things more complicated than a static piece of art.” Duffy has an impressive resume. In addition to notable animation and music, the Champion Island Games doodle had multiple, fully playable games. The very first Google DoodleĬolin Duffy was a Producer on the Google Doodle team, and worked on the recent Champion Island Games doodle that ran during the Tokyo Olympics. The VR Google Doodle celebrating Georges Méliès was even nominated for an Emmy in 2018. There are over 500 Doodles per year, with many running only in specific countries and regions. Since then, Google Doodles have grown considerably. It was their out-of-office message, informing people that they were attending the California music festival Burning Man. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin created the first Google Doodle on August 30th, 1998.
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