You’ve probably admired what seems like an ever-changing Google logo hovering above your search box on the Google homepage. Did you ever think you could design a “Google Doodle” logo?  One local, Frances Richmond Middle School eighth-grader, Lauren Hall thought so. And she did.

The “Doodle” is a special, temporary alteration of the company’s logo to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The tradition began in 1998  when co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin honored the long-running annual Burning Man event in Black Rock City, Nevada by installing a modified logo to notify users of their absence while attending the famed festival. The ideas, like most ideas in Silicone Valley, bloomed into a creative branding strategy now lead by a team of Google “Doodlers” who have published over 2,000 regional and international Doodles throughout its homepages. The doodles have featured historical figures and personalities like Andy Warhol, Nikola Tesla, Freddie Mercury and cultural events such as the companies own anniversary to the Lego block's 50th anniversary.

The Doodle4Google is an annual contest open to students nationwide in grades K-12 and are invited to create their own Google doodle for the chance to have it featured on Google.com, as well as win some great scholarships and tech packages for their schools.

Students are allowed to create with whatever materials they choose and are judged on creativity, artist’s merit, and theme communication. This year was the contest’s twelfth year with the inspirationational theme “When I grow up, I hope…”.

Hall’s doodle is anything but the loose-handed distracted scribble the word implies. Her entry which she titled “Next Generation Leaders” is drawn with a fine point pen and colored pencils. She uses each letter to create exquisitely detailed scenes of people in various professions and educations; an astronaut, an artist, a gardener, a computer programmer, a teacher, and a scientist.

Submitted with her drawing, her artist statement reads: “When I grow up, I hope that people will continue to break boundaries in professions and that we will be more accepting towards all types of people, no matter their differences. Just like the people in the drawings, I hope that we will be able to evolve our technology, reach to the stars, invent new creations, take care of our precious planet, teach our knowledge to others, and paint ourselves in the future that we dream of.”

This year’s judges were The Tonight Show’s host Jimmy Fallon; Mandy Manning, winner of the 2018 National Teacher of the Year Award and the well-known amphibias Muppet character, Kermit the Frog.

The 14-year-old habitual doodler commented to local newspaper The Valley News; “I was thinking about it a lot, and I thought, I want everyone to have an equal opportunity to pursue their passions without anyone stopping them.” Leading by example, Hall won the state competition back in May catapulting her and her art to compete on a national level with 53 other finalists.

The competition gathered over 200,000 submissions across 10 regions nationwide. While Hall did not win, she walked away with Google Hardware, an assembly celebration at her school and some cool Google Swag.

The 2019 winner was Arantza Peña Popo from Georgia, 10-12 grade level with her doodle entitled “Once You Get It, Give It Back”. Hall’s work can still be seen on the Doodle4Google gallery where Google features all finalists by age and state.

The 2020 Competition is coming up! Find out more here!