Google is scattering Alphabet blocks to mute its own success

A bit like the phenomenon of stealth Starbucks branches, Google has become so ubiquitous it is choosing to fade into the background

"Sergey and I are seriously in the business of starting new things," writes Google co-founder Larry Page, in his blogpost launching the company's latest venture to the world: the birth of a Google mother-brand, henceforth to be known as Alphabet. It is something of an understatement for an organisation set on conquering every aspect of our known existence, having grown from the small ambition of indexing all the world's information, into a web of endless autonomous divisions that now tackle everything from self-driving cars to roaming internet balloons to slowing down the process of ageing.

So what brand could represent this new catch-all umbrella, an overarching vehicle for the company's voracious new forays into further-flung fields? The evolution of the Google brand over the years has always reflected the company's changing aspirations, from the homespun novelty WordArt of a pair of Stanford maths geeks, to the slick logo we see today.