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October 15, 2012

Little Nemo in Google-Land

By Brittany Walters-Bearden, TMCnet Contributor

Google may be making headlines for its corporate battles with Apple (News - Alert) and various publishers recently, but today, it is making the headlines for an entirely different reason: whimsical fun.



Google often changes its signature logo to celebrate holidays, commemorate historical events, or raise awareness about a particular topic. Today, users of the popular search engine will notice that the Google (News - Alert) logo has undergone a makeover once again: it is an interactive cartoon-strip dreamscape. The reason? To honor animator Winsor McCay’s comic strip “Little Nemo in Slumberland”, which ran for the first time on October 15, 1905, 107 years ago.


Image via www.google.com

The interactive strip featured on Google is title “Little Nemo in Google-Land”, telling a story for those users who are motivated enough to click on the panels. When users click on the panels, a cartoon strip emerges beneath the redesigned Google logo. Users will note an ornamental tab at the bottom of the strip, which can be clicked to reveal the next panel of the cartoon. 

This Google logo cartoon strip goes far beyond their typical redesigns, which, most frequently, use the letters to form shapes that somehow represent the holiday or event being celebrated. There is not only still animation, but there is also motion, as Little Nemo falls from panel to panel, a bouncy ball bounces from one panel to the next, and a towering bed uses its long legs to walk across the screen.

The cartoon ran until 1914, but its legacy has been far-reaching. Although many modern animation fans are not familiar with “Little Nemo in Slumberland”, McCay’s work is considered significant, as it is said to have influenced future animators, among them, Walt Disney (News - Alert). For anyone who has time to kill at the office today, the elaborate cartoon created by Google is worth clicking through.




Edited by Brooke Neuman
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