Aug 30, 1998
Burning Man Festival
This Doodle’s Key Themes
You’ve stumbled across the first-ever Google Doodle!
In the beginning days of Google, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were planning to take a few days away from the office to attend the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada. However, they needed a simple and clear way to let Google users know they wouldn’t be around in case any inquiries came in while they were gone. They decided to take an untraditional approach to the "out of office" message by simply replacing the second “O” of the Google homepage logo with the Burning Man logo—and the first-ever Google Doodle was born!
Fun fact: This first Doodle launched less than one week before Google was officially incorporated as a company. That’s why we say that Google Doodles are older than Google, Inc. itself!
Where this Doodle appeared
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The very first Doodle launched as an “out of office” message of sorts when company founders Larry and Sergey went on vacation.
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The first Doodle launched in 1998, before Google was officially incorporated.
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The first same day Doodle was created in 2009 when water was discovered on the moon.
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Doodle for Google student contest winners have gone on to become professional artists
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The time it takes from sketch to launch for a Doodle varies widely: some have taken years and others just a few hours!
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Hundreds of Doodles launch around the world every year. Often, several different ones are live in different places at the same time!
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Our most frequently recurring Doodle character is Momo the Cat - named after a real-life team pet!
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