When you watch Google’s exciting new logo announcement, what grabs you?

A major evolutionary leap for one of the world’s biggest brands? Yes, but that’s not all. For me, the biggest reveal is the little hand, elegantly telling their story – it’s simply brilliant. Visual communicators, graphic facilitators, scribes, and illustrators should be taking note.

We have seen and employed the hand quite a bit in the past few years in whiteboard movies, or what we at Collective Next craft and call ScribeStory Videos. These creative pieces, generally 2-6 minutes in length, function very much like Google’s announcement animation. They tell a big story as simply as possible. Very often, these animations show a sketching hand, synched with a scripted voiceover.

But what’s so special about the hand? And why did Google use it here?

Years ago, I helped my dad, an artist, select a headshot for his portfolio. He insisted that the headshot (read: photo of one’s head) include his hands. He explained that as a sculptor, his hands were actually as critical to his work as his head. Hands connect us to our loves, our art, and our work. Hands humanize.

One of our mantras is Be Human. When used thoughtfully, as in Google’s announcement doodle, the hand connotes the human creativity and ingenuity that make the story possible.

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