My thinking is as follows. When a kid is using Sugar you want them emotionally engaged with their work and the other kids, who they probably know in real life.  The XO is a great icon for transparently representing other people and letting your use that as a symbol for a mental model of them. When we are teaching about Sugar, making powerpoints, books etc.  We want to emotionally engage out readers hindbrain, with cute images that helps the person learning about Sugar feel like they are having fun.  I'm getting this from a Kathy Sierra talk.  So a mascot is not something that appear in the UI of Sugar. Its a branding element we put in book and slide shows and to spark up web sites. Maybe we also make it a fictional kid character we use in examples. I like the animal, but  I think we need a cuter version then this first try. <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 1:32 PM, Eben Eliason <<a href="mailto:eben.eliason@gmail.com">eben.eliason@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="Ih2E3d">On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 1:12 PM, Kevin Cole <<a href="mailto:dc.loco@gmail.com">dc.loco@gmail.com</a>> wrote: > On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 11:45, Eben Eliason <<a href="mailto:eben.eliason@gmail.com">eben.eliason@gmail.com</a>> wrote: > >> 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. > > Is it possible to "split the difference"?  It seems to me that by > adding "wings" of a sort to the XO figure, you'd be able to > approximate something that still looks human, yet also looks like a > sugar glider -- or a kid with a hang glider.  Clearly related to the > original, but like the Red Bull commercials say "Sugar gives you > wings!" ;-) </div>I don't think so.  That misses the point, which is that the children themselves—not flying squirrels, however cute ;) —are represented as a fundamental part of the interface. - Eben > -- <div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">> Ubuntu Linux DC LoCo > Washington, DC > <a href="http://dc.ubuntu-us.org/" target="_blank">http://dc.ubuntu-us.org/</a> > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> > <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> > _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> </div></div></blockquote></div> -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove Caroline@SolutionGrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax