Today, Google dropped a special Doodle in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day. Irish artist Ross Stewart illustrated his rich heritage with a special historical nod that pays homage to writing.
On the landing page, where users often see the colorful Google logo, standing in for the Google “L” is a stone marked up with the Ogham alphabet. Ogham is the Emerald Isle’s earliest form of writing.
This early Irish alphabet consists of 20 letters and to an untrained eye (which, let’s be real, is most of us in this case) the stone’s etchings look more like tally marks gone rogue. Each letter is made by using parallel strokes on either side of or across a continuous line.
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Stewart’s illustration also shows a determined stonemason working hard against a backdrop of hazy blues, bright greens, and wildflowers. An adorable sheep looks on in the background.
In recent years Google’s landing page has become a digital landmark, often paying tribute to pop culture or shining a light on little-known and even forgotten history. From letting the world know the Paralympics officially commenced to having cronut creator Dominique Ansel bake a pie in honor of Pi Day, you could say Doodle subjects are as varied as the billion plus people who use the engine. Recently, the search engine honored beloved philanthropist George Peabody with a sweet video.
As for today’s ode to Ireland, the Doodle will be seen by billions of people for the next 24 hours and ranks among many public symbols “going green” so to speak. A number of iconic landmarks are honoring Saint Paddy’s Day: the Chicago River is dyed completely green each year, while both the Colosseum in Rome and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro will glow with emerald lights tonight.
For most of us, taking a deep dive into a dedicated Google landing page (and maybe picking up a shamrock coffee) is more attainable than visiting these landmarks.
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