Jennifer Hom of Google
On any given day, it’s estimated that nearly 700 million people visit the Google homepage, with over 8 billion daily searches. Every once in a while, the search engine giant decides to have a little fun by featuring highly popular illustrations in place of the famed Google icon—known as Google Doodles. These entertaining and educational works of art are designed to pay homage to significant people, events, or technological achievements throughout world history. The woman responsible for many of these works of arts is Google illustrator, Jennifer Hom. She talks to Jonathan Miller about her work, as well as the inspiration behind them.
Born and raised in suburban Long Island, New York, Hom’s passion for art took off with the drawings of every young girl’s favorite subjects—magical flying unicorns and fairy princesses. Her enthusiasm for art grew throughout her years at high school, after which she attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Hom eventually started doodling for Google, after landing a job with them in 2009. She has since been developing illustrations honoring idols such as Freddie Mercury, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Lucille Ball, and Little Nemo, and events such as Chinese Valentine’s Day and Thailand’s Songkran Festival.
Hom’s creativity has given people the opportunity to look back on history and reminisce on events and notable figures, as well as learn about some of the world’s greatest treasures. In describing the process of creating a doodle, Hom breaks it down into six steps: idea, research, sketch, feedback, interactive magic—which involves testing the Doodle—and final product.
So what makes an event or an individual worthy of making it to the homepage of the world’s most dominant search engine? Hom explains that they are creative and technology related, while they must have had a significant impact on the world. Hom says that her main source of inspiration comes from interacting with different cultures and people. When asked how she keeps such a creative edge, Hom admits that it’s hard; however, she added that the team of engineers around her contributes towards making her work enjoyable.
Google’s initial goal behind the Doodles was to send a message to users saying that like many others, staff members also appreciate all facets of life. Now, nearly 15 years since its debut, the Google Doodle remains ever so popular, with the element of surprise capturing the attention of millions of Google users.