As Google marks its 27th birthday, it’s not just the search engine that’s being celebrated. The identity is being celebrated. The spotlight is shared with Ruth Kedar, the woman who designed the logo that has become as familiar as the company itself. Although Google's appearance has evolved over the past thirty years, Kedar's design foundation remains recognizable.
Who is Ruth Kedar?
Born on January 27, 1955, in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, Ruth Kedar became an accomplished designer through a journey spanning continents and a passion for fusing art with precision. Kedar's love of drawing and mathematics played a crucial role in her architectural studies. Her interest was fostered by her upbringing in a home that valued creativity and intellectual inquiry.
She encountered a new language and culture in Israel, which was very different from the tropical rhythms of her Brazilian heritage, on the eve of her sixteenth birthday. "Art and math were a comfort in a foreign country, struggling with a new language and culture," she stated in subsequent interviews. They became her source of comfort and a way for her to express herself in this unfamiliar setting.
Google Logo making process
Kedar's journey is not like other stories from Silicon Valley. She packed her bags once more and traveled to the United States a few years later to continue her education. Fortunately, she was asked to create their logo by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were working on a small project that had the potential to change the world. She took it seriously, even though she could have dismissed it as just another student request.
In the process of playing with colours, she chose the serif Catull typeface, which blended tradition with something a bit more modern and forward-thinking, and she used primary colors to go with it. She saw those colors as more than just vivid and loud; they were a symbol of limitless possibilities with basic combinations.
The design she created wasn’t just a logo. It was the beginning of a visual identity that outlasted design fads and trends over decades. The foundation also gave a platform to the Google Doodle, a quirky tradition that millions look forward to every day.
