How to Memorize the Google Logo Colors

Which one of these logos below is the real one?

Everyone sees the Google logo on a daily basis, but how many actually remember what it looks like? Which one of these logos below is the real one? Once you have read through to the bottom, you will be able to easily answer this question. I will walk through the thought process I initially took to determine the pattern; you may also skip to the last section to view the end result.

Initial Observations

At first glance, the order of the colors may appear random, perhaps derived by trial and error until an aesthetic combination was found. However, a deeper analysis reveals that there is a simple pattern to the order of colors. When I initially analyzed the patterns, I made the observations listed below. I will omit observations which did not pertain to the final solution.

1. The logo has exactly six letters.
2. The colors blue and red appear twice.
3. The colors yellow and green appear once.
4. There are no repeated colors side-by-side.
5. The color blue is always followed by two other colors.

Before continuing this process, I will need to introduce a basic concept regarding colors.

Primary and Pixel Colors

When performing the analysis, I already had an understanding of primary colors and pixel colors. A brief introduction to these concepts are listed below:

• Primary Colors: the primary colors are blue, yellow, and red. These are considered 'primary' because they cannot be derived by mixing any combination of other colors. Every other color, such as purple, can be derived by mixing primary colors.
• Pixel Colors: the pixel colors are blue, green, and red. Monitors and televisions are comprized of tens of thousands of small pixels: small squares with blue, green, and red strips. Each pixel can emit a color, such as orange, by brightening and dimming its blue, green, and red strips in certain ways. Note that yellow can be represented despite the fact that it is a primary color. This is possible because of human biology, but the explanation of this falls beyond the scope of this page.

Continued Analysis

Now that we have covered the definitions of primary and pixel colors, we can continue our analysis. After the observations listed above, I noticed that the letters of the logo can be split into two seperate sections:

1. The first section has the colors blue, red, and yellow: the primary colors.
2. The second section has the colors blue, green, and red: the pixel colors.

We now have a partial ordering: we know that yellow can't appear in the 4th, 5th, or 6th letter, and green can't appear in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd letter. We also know that each color can only appear at most once per 3 letter section. The last observation, which will complete our analysis, is as follows: within each section, the order of colors appear in alphabetical order.

The Underlying Pattern Behind the Colors

Instead of using rote memorization to memorize the order of colors, we can remember the pattern in which the colors are derived:

1. The colors are split into two halves which are 3 letters each.
2. The colors of the first section are the primary colors in alphabetical order.
3. The colors of the second section are the pixel colors in alphabetical order.

If we create the list of colors from that pattern, we will get: blue, red, yellow, blue, green, red. Anytime we wish to recall the colors, we can recall the pattern and re-construct the list from there, a process which is much easier than memorizing the colors directly.