[IAEP] Branding and mascot (Was: Re: Color combos for the logo)

[Eben Eliason]

On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 11:36 AM, Gary C Martin <gary at garycmartin.com> wrote:
> On 5 Dec 2008, at 12:17, Jameson Quinn wrote:
>
>> 3. Personally, I'd love a mascot too; kids like cuddly. My initial
>> brainstorms:
>>
>> associated with sugar?
>> Pollinators (nectar)
>> Hummingbirds (too western-hemisphere)
>> Bats (anything nocturnal is culturally dangerous, but I love 'em)
>> Bees (good possibility)
>> flies (yuck)
>> ants (has good community associations)
>> gingerbread man (cute, but a little too gendered and shrek-y)
>> bears (too generic)
>> sugarcane fieldworker (yeah, right)
>>
>> I just googled and OMG WE HAVE A WINNER as far as I am concerned.
>> That is cute beyond words and it is called a "sugar glider". I'd
>> never heard of that name even though my mom's Australian but it is
>> beyond my wildest dreams.
>>
>> What do other people think?
>
> Cute :-) But it needs to work as a 2 colour (+ alpha) icon at large
> and small sizes all over the UI. The XO really is a very well chosen
> design element... If we really can't keep it, well, my best thought so
> far is to make something very similar/stylised, some other kid like
> stick figure shape or perhaps face.
>
> Needs a lot of thought.

I'd strongly recommend against eliminating the XO as the core element
of the UI.  It was chosen specifically to represent children, and to
maintain the human/body metaphors where appropriate.  Substituting it
with anything other than a human likeness would be counterproductive,
I fear.

I'm fairly confident that, though we can't use it as a brand identity,
we can keep that icon in the UI itself.

- Eben



> --Gary
>
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