Dysart & Jones » Google doodles

Happy Hallowe’en!

Jane Dysart — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:26:07 +0000

It seems that I’m on the road every year at Hallowe’en, and this year is no exception. Here I am in DC on the first day of KMWorld 2011, an exciting and extremely busy conference. Workshops and Taxonomy Boot Camp are now underway and despite the Nor’Easter and early snow in many parts of the Northeast, I’m only missing one speaker. Yipppeeee! I’m not wearing my pumpkin hat today and whoever took the picture of me wearing it a few years ago has thankfully taken it down from Flickr!

Many of you know that I love Google Doodles and often write posts that include their fun seasonal or special occasion doodles, like today! But who knew that Mashable also loved them, check out some of the older Hallowe’en Google Doodles in their post. And have a great Hallowe’en day!

Muppet Life Lessons

Jane Dysart — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:08:32 +0000

What a great fall day when we celebrate Jim Henson’s 75th birthday and wish he was still with us. What a creative genius who dared to do something different and made a difference in so many lives! I love this post from last year about leadership lessons from the Muppets: so many positive words from such interesting perspectives including Kermit and the Fraggles. Rebecca and I have been talking a lot lately about critical thinking and the necessity of looking at challenges from difference frames or perspectives. So check out those from the Muppets, they’re great!

And also have a look at Search Engine Land’s post about today’s Google Muppet doodle. It explains the interactivity of this doodle even if it doesn’t have audio like lots of net curmudgeons complained about this morning. Life is too short — Henson died at 53. Be happy and creative; enjoy your weekend and Henson’s Google Muppet Day!

Pat Martin: Consumers & Generations

Jane Dysart — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:02:14 +0000

Thank you Google for immortalizing the Flinstones cartoon, which began on September 30th in 1960, with a Google doodle today. I love it and it brings back so many childhood memories. But it also reminds me of the many generations out there, lots who have no idea who the Flintstones are!

I had a great conversation this morning with Pat Martin of Litlamp Communications and author of Renaissance Generation: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer & What it Means to Your Business. Pat is an expert marketer, strategist, and a wonderful speaker. She is the opening keynote speaker at Internet Librarian 2010 next month, Monday October 25th, in Monterey CA. She will talking about adding value to your community and I know has great examples, suggestions, and tactics. She is very creative when it comes to partnerships and has worked with ALA in the past so understands the information community and respects its strategic position for dealing with the cultural consumer of today. Hope you can join us for this Pat’s talk.

Google Doodles: Enhancing Brand & User Experience

Jane Dysart — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:45:14 +0000

Google's Olympic Hockey Doodle

I have been fascinated by Google doodles for years and often include them in posts. Now here is an interesting article from Interbrand’s blog that all sites can learn from:

“Well, aside from being fun, inspiring, and surprising as a recent CNN interview with Google Doodle web designer Michael Lopez suggests, its also a fresh way to update Google’s extremely simple homepage—something that is harder than it might seem at first glance.”

With an extremely minimal and simple design, Google’s site is made up of three elements: “a colorful, iconic logo (the design of which, good and/or bad, is topic for another discussion), a search bar, and a massive amount of white space. This allows Google to be a calm, but positive breather before you dive into the bottomless whirlpool of information. ”

“And yet, while this approach is quite successful, these three elements can also be a little limiting when it comes to accurately representing a brand personality and staying fresh and relevant in the climate of an ever changing Internet. Google needed something else to visually carry the brand. Something that could speak to who they are, yet also be organic enough to mold to anything the world throws their way. Enter the Google Doodle.”

“What was initially a quirky holiday illustration is now becoming a vital tool in communicating Google’s brand personality. Visually, it gives Google endless possibilities in a technology market that has just that–endless possibilities. It enables Google to keep the pace and stay relevant in the world that is never static. And it does all of this in a way that celebrates the Google brand in a strategic and successful way.”

I am happy to see a site that archives Google doodles and logos, and lists a number of other sites to check for more! And also I’m honoring the Canadian Olympic Hockey team with my choice of doodle today! They definitely added to the smiles and spirit of all Canadians. Congrats to all the participating athletes from all the countries represented — well done!

Google Pics Bonanza

Jane Dysart — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:21:01 +0000

Opening Ceremonies

Interesting to see the new style of Google doodle for the 21st Winter Olymics and fantastic to see all the wonderful international athletes gather in my country — 82 nations are represented. As my friend Stephen says,”with all their positive attitues and karma all in one place. They set an example that everything is possible.” I certainly believe that too!

How exciting to see how social media is affecting the games this year . The twitter feed was amazing during the opening ceremonies — seemed like 1000 tweets per minute at #olympics. I couldn’t keep up but had a good time reviewing some very funny comments!

Since my son used to do “spinny, flippy things” on a snowboard I particularly loved the beginning of the opening ceremonies with the snowboarder at the top of a pristine hill, racing down amid dramatic views, flying through a maple leaf llighted by many torch bearers, and culminating in the indoor venue (a first for the Olympics) of the opening ceremonies, B.C. Place. I do hope that segment gets posted on YouTube, as I’d love to see it again.

However, it is also a very sad beginning to this great event with the death of a 21 year old athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvill. Great to see that today’s Google doodle is indeed a luger.

Childhood Flash! Popeye!!

Jane Dysart — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:25:43 +0000

What a shock — my childhood just rushed through my head when I opened up Google this morning and saw Popeye! My father had been in the Navy so Popeye was a favorite character in our house. And remember Popeye’s cans of spinach for strength? there it is! At any rate, is it wonderful that Google honors various artists with Google doodles. Today, E. C. Segar, the creator of the Popeye character is celebrated. Amazing that he died so long ago but his character lives on, especially in my mind. Makes me think of durability — durability of buildings like I saw in Rome earlier this year, durability of organizations (not so many ar built to last anymore), durability of practices, even if we would like to change them……..

Olympics & Goolge

Jane Dysart — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:57:39 +0000

Isn’t great to see so many young athletes have an opportunity to represent their countries in Beijing at the Summer Olympics? Belonging to an athletic family who lives to watch the games, it is an exciting time. As were the Ontario Summer Games this past weekend in Ottawa where my daughter coached an under 16 women’s field hockey team to a gold medal. I’m thinking that this Google doodle has a field hockey stick in the net, what do you think?

To have a look at more of the wonderful Google doodles for the 2008 Olympics, look here. What’s your favorite? It’s hard to pick one, I love the basketball, ping pong, swimming, rowing, badminton — well, all of them really! Thanks Google.