A. Marcus (Ed.): DUXU/HCII 2013, Part II, LNCS 8013, pp. 508–517, 2013.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Interactive Doodles: A Comparative Analysis
of the Usability and Playability of Google Trademark
Games between 2010 and 2012
Breno José Andrade de Carvalho
1
, Marcelo Márcio Soares
2
,
Andre Menezes Marques das Neves
2
, and Rodrigo Pessoa Medeiros
1
1
Course Technology Games Digiais, Catholic University of Pernambuco, Brazil
2
Post Graduate Program in Design, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil
{breno25,andremneves}@gmail.com, marcelo2@nlink.com.br,
prof@rodrigomedeiros.com.br
Abstract. By using artistic mutations, called Doodles, Google has been com-
memorating important events and personalities. This fun approach started with
still images, evolved to increasingly complex interactions, and has resulted in
games based on the configurations of its logo. Thus, the company which was
born in the digital world has introduced a new interactive approach to its logo in
cyberspace, thus offering new experiences to the user. This article sets out to
present a comparative analysis of usability and playability of five interactive
Doodles by applying the RITE (Rapid Interation Testing and Evaluation)
approach so as to investigate ergonomic criteria of invitation, suitability,
immediate feedback and user control.
Keywords: Interactive Doodles, Mutated Logo, Google, Game, Playability,
Usability.
1 Introduction
In 1999, from a simple drawing of a person behind the second "o" in the word
Google, the search engine, born in cyberspace, changed its logo in a humorous way to
celebrate important events, which gave rise to the mutations of its logo, better known
as Doodles
1
(Fig. 1.). What started as a simple joke is now looked forward to by In-
ternet users who access the company´s search page looking for new updates.
Google, in addition to commemorating important events, began developing more
elaborate and complex alterations to its logo to broadcast information of a political,
social and cultural nature all over the world, by means of visual composition, some-
times in stills, sometimes in animation, of the characters of its logo. However, starting
in 2010, Google reinvented a way for its users to interact with their identity. What
hitherto had only been done visually for the user, now has a new approach which
1
Doodle "consists of changes in the look of the Google logo in order to celebrate holidays,
anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists" [1].