Google marks International Women’s Day with 3D mandala Doodle, Duo effect, more

Abner Li | Mar 7 2020 - 11:24 pm PT

Sunday, March 8 is International Women’s Day and Google is celebrating with a homepage Doodle that features a multilayered 3D paper mandala animation. The unique design is meant to convey “women coming together throughout the world—and generations.”

The desktop homepage features a pulsating play button acting as the second ‘o’ in the company’s logo. Tapping starts a 55-second video of the multi-tiered mandala that’s rich in history:

The mandala’s black-and-white central layer reflects women around the world during the late 1800s to the 1930s amidst labor movements.
The second layer depicts women from the 1950s to the 1980s, a landmark era in the wake of pushes for gender equality and rapid changes to the status quo.
Finally, the outer layer symbolizes women from the 1990s to the present-day, in the context of progress made from over 100 years of women’s rights movements. It pays tribute to breaking barriers from former cultural and gender roles, as women continue to question, reclaim, and redefine ideas about the roles women take on in society.

The International Women’s Day Google Doodle was illustrated by New York and London-based guest artists Julie Wilkinson and Joyanne Horscroft from Makerie Studio, and animated by Zurich-based guest animators Marion Willam & Daphne Abderhalden from DRASTIK GmbH.

Meanwhile, today’s Doodle is also available in Google Duo this month as a special effect when recording video messages. Gboard also has related GIFs when searching “#GoogleDoodle,” while Google Arts & Culture has inspiring stories of “Women in Culture.” Lastly, you can wish Google Assistant “Happy International Women’s Day” to see 12 stories about historical figures.