Google Marks the Start of Summer with a Couple of Takashi Murakami Doodles (Pics)

Google is running a couple of doodles for the summer solstice, one for each hemisphere. In the north, June 21 marks the start of summer and the longest day of the year. In the south, the opposite is true, June 21 is the shortest day.

Google has commissioned a couple of doodles from Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, known for his original style, appropriating Japanese popular culture themes and styles for use in his art work.

The two doodles, one symbolizing the start of summer, the other the start of winter, feature elements very common in his works, including the central characters and the use of flowers, even in the winter-themed doodle.

Google has an in-house doodle department that usually takes care of all of the custom logos that adorn the Google homepage. Its artists regularly get help from some of its many engineers in order to create the more elaborate or imaginative doodles.

Recently, it ran a special doodle for the June 15 lunar eclipse, featuring images of the moon as it was actually seen during the eclipse. After the event, it displayed all of the phases of the eclipse in a controllable slideshow.

Also recently, Google ran a very interesting and popular virtual guitar doodle in the memory of Les Paul. It enable users to play tunes inside the Google homepage and even record them to share them with friends.

That doodle proved so popular that Google kept it running for a second day. However, Google still runs plenty of simpler doodles, with just a custom design for the logo.

Last year on June 21, Google ran a series of doodles, marking both the summer and the winter solstice depicting either vacation spots, for the summer one, or winter activities and imagery such as a warm fireplace and sledding.