Google's new Jeff Koons background, courtesy of googleblog.blogspot.com
Today Google unveils a new “choose your own background” feature. According to the company’s official blog, “You can choose a photo from your computer, your own Picasa Web Album or a public gallery hosted by Picasa which includes a selection of beautiful photos.” The publicly available options include pictures by contemporary artists like the French environmental photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, glass blower Dale Chihuly, and painter/sculptor Polly Apfelbaum.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand, courtesy of googleblog.blogspot.com
Making Google a more personal experience is the reason the blog offers for this new option. However, it also makes Google’s homepage look similar to Bing‘s, Microsoft’s search engine that has used colorful background images from its start. In any case, this innovation from the company that brings many their email, chat, and documents on a daily basis will not only brighten up the search page’s typically plain, white background, but it also brings attention to some lesser-known artists whose work they have chosen to feature.