Today’s Google doodle celebrating St. Patrick’s Day includes a hidden word, but you have to know the ancient Irish ogham alphabet to decipher it.
Created by the Irish artist Ross Stewart, the doodle leads to a search for “St. Patrick’s Day.” The image depicts a traditional Irish scene, with a stonemason arranging rocks that spell out the name Google. The secret message written in ogham alphabet letters is carved into the large stone.
“Standing in for the Google ‘L’ is a tall stone that pays homage to Ireland’s earliest form of writing: ogham,” writes Google on the Google Doodle Blog, “The edge is marked with a series of ancient carvings, each group representing a letter of the ogham alphabet.”
Google shared the following early sketches of Stewart’s work for the St. Patrick’s Day doodle:
If you’re having trouble figuring out the what’s carved in the large stone, Google’s doodle team offered up a link to an image search for ogham alphabet.
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Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media’s General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.