Python mascot proposal

D

Dimitri Tcaciuc

Hey everybody,

While I'm not absolutely positive, it looks like Python still doesn't
have any official mascot or logo. Hence, here's something I came up with
yesterday. Its by no means a final version, but rather just a draft to
show an idea. Here's a link to png file.

http://www.sfu.ca/~dtcaciuc/art/pymascot.png

I haven't came up with the name for that guy yet, so I'm leaving that
for public suggestions :). It is time Python gets an official face in
the Net! *cough* Anyway, I would like to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Cheers,

Dimitri.
 
J

Jeremy Bowers

I haven't came up with the name for that guy yet, so I'm leaving that
for public suggestions :). It is time Python gets an official face in
the Net! *cough* Anyway, I would like to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

I mean no offense, this was just my initial reaction: I like the drawing
itself, but the first thing that coloration brings to mind is the word
"diseased". Sorry, I don't know how to make this sound less brutal without
getting that across. But I do like the drawing.
 
D

Dimitri Tcaciuc

Jeremy said:
I mean no offense, this was just my initial reaction: I like the drawing
itself, but the first thing that coloration brings to mind is the word
"diseased". Sorry, I don't know how to make this sound less brutal without
getting that across. But I do like the drawing.

Heh, well, I tried to pick the actual snake colors, but I agree that it
looks rather plagued. I shall remove the colouring for now, and think on
a more lively colour scheme.
 
S

Steven Bethard

Jeremy said:
I mean no offense, this was just my initial reaction: I like the drawing
itself, but the first thing that coloration brings to mind is the word
"diseased". Sorry, I don't know how to make this sound less brutal without
getting that across. But I do like the drawing.

Yeah, cool drawing, though I also think I'd change the colors too. They
don't really match up with the traditional Python icon. If you're on
windows this is in the root directory of your Python install, e.g.:

C:\Program Files\Python\py.ico

I don't know if this file is distributed with the other installs...

Anyway, your pic's cool, but I'd prefer to at least keep the same
coloring as the traditional Python python.

Steve
 
R

richard

Dimitri said:
While I'm not absolutely positive, it looks like Python still doesn't
have any official mascot or logo.

As already mentioned, there is a snake that gets used in a number of icons
around the place - the windows installer, for example.

Hence, here's something I came up with
yesterday. Its by no means a final version, but rather just a draft to
show an idea. Here's a link to png file.

http://www.sfu.ca/~dtcaciuc/art/pymascot.png

Very cute :)

Having said that, don't forget that Python's name has *nothing to do with
snakes*. Please consider sticking to the original roots of the language's
name: Monty Python's Flying Circus. IIRC, Guido has said a number of times
that he's not fond of using a snake for logos. Hence the MacPython stuff
uses a 16 ton weight in its icons.


Richard
 
D

Dimitri Tcaciuc

richard said:
As already mentioned, there is a snake that gets used in a number of icons
around the place - the windows installer, for example.





Very cute :)

Having said that, don't forget that Python's name has *nothing to do with
snakes*. Please consider sticking to the original roots of the language's
name: Monty Python's Flying Circus. IIRC, Guido has said a number of times
that he's not fond of using a snake for logos. Hence the MacPython stuff
uses a 16 ton weight in its icons.


Richard

Yup, I was aware of the fact of Monty Python roots of the language name.
However, you will probably agree that a snake is more associative.

Plus, if to use some characteristic MP feature like a giant foot, I'm
not positive that it won't trigger any copyright issues.
 
B

Bud Rogers

richard said:
Having said that, don't forget that Python's name has *nothing to do
with snakes*. Please consider sticking to the original roots of the
language's name: Monty Python's Flying Circus. IIRC, Guido has said a
number of times that he's not fond of using a snake for logos.

Some time ago while cruising a Barnes & Noble I found a Python book I
hadn't seen before. I don't remember the title at the moment, and I
don't have the book at hand, but the cover had a large python staring
down at a small frightened rodent. When I went to check out, the
person at the counter was a kind of frumpy librarian type. She looked
at the cover and made some snide remark about frightening small
children. I thought for a moment about trying to explain to her that
the cover art was an inside joke on an inside joke. When I realized
how far back I would have to go to unwind all the references, it just
didn't seem worth the trouble.
 
L

Luis M. Gonzalez

Hey Dimitri,

I completely agree with you in that Python needs once for all a cool
logo.
I like your design very much, but I have a few thoughts about it:

1) I think that Python's logo should reflect its power.
If we use a mascot as its image, we would be giving the wrong idea:
that Python is a "toy" language, instead of a very good alternative to
other mainstream languages.

2) We should also bear in mind Guido's oppinion about using a snake for
identifying Python.

3) And finally, we should consider it very seriously. Image is not
everything, but it is very important for "marketing" a product. I'm
sure that if Java didn't have a cool name and a cool logo, it wouldn't
have been that succesfull.

I don't mean to sound like I'm rejecting your idea. I really like it
alot, and it is an excellent mascot.
It's just that I wouldn't use a mascot... I'd rather use a more
"killer" image.
Something that reflects power and excellence.

What do you think?
 
D

Dimitri Tcaciuc

Luis said:
Hey Dimitri,

I completely agree with you in that Python needs once for all a cool
logo.
I like your design very much, but I have a few thoughts about it:

1) I think that Python's logo should reflect its power.
If we use a mascot as its image, we would be giving the wrong idea:
that Python is a "toy" language, instead of a very good alternative to
other mainstream languages.

2) We should also bear in mind Guido's oppinion about using a snake for
identifying Python.

3) And finally, we should consider it very seriously. Image is not
everything, but it is very important for "marketing" a product. I'm
sure that if Java didn't have a cool name and a cool logo, it wouldn't
have been that succesfull.

I don't mean to sound like I'm rejecting your idea. I really like it
alot, and it is an excellent mascot.
It's just that I wouldn't use a mascot... I'd rather use a more
"killer" image.
Something that reflects power and excellence.

What do you think?

Hehe, well, looking at linux, Tux is definitely not a killer type, yet
it became very popular. BSD devil is kind of a cutsy thing, yet it
proved to be pretty popular as well.

Not sure if the word 'marketing' applies here, but I agree that the logo
could probably be 'more serious' than what I proposed above. I'll think
about that one some more.

Cheers,
 
B

Brian Beck

Dimitri said:
While I'm not absolutely positive, it looks like Python still doesn't
have any official mascot or logo. Hence, here's something I came up with
yesterday. Its by no means a final version, but rather just a draft to
show an idea. Here's a link to png file.

http://www.sfu.ca/~dtcaciuc/art/pymascot.png

Nice work! I admit it's just too tempting not to design around snake
imagery for Python. Here are a couple of images/logos (quite a bit
different from a mascot) I've been working on...

http://exogen.cwru.edu/python.png
http://exogen.cwru.edu/python2.png

If anyone can think of a way to break free of the reptile-oriented
thought process but maintain clear, symbolic imagery, I'd love to see
more suggestions or renditions!
 
D

Dimitri Tcaciuc

Brian said:
Nice work! I admit it's just too tempting not to design around snake
imagery for Python. Here are a couple of images/logos (quite a bit
different from a mascot) I've been working on...

http://exogen.cwru.edu/python.png
http://exogen.cwru.edu/python2.png

If anyone can think of a way to break free of the reptile-oriented
thought process but maintain clear, symbolic imagery, I'd love to see
more suggestions or renditions!

Since the word 'Python' would bring -some- sort of snake associations, I
thought of combining snake and Monty Python symbolic, like making a
snake wind around a giant foot, or adding long mustache and an english
hat to a snake or something in that manner, or even put a snake into a
holy grail heh.

But then again, I'm not sure if there'll be no copyright issues.
 
E

Eric Pederson

Since the word 'Python' would bring -some- sort of snake associations,
I
thought of combining snake and Monty Python symbolic, like making a
snake wind around a giant foot, or adding long mustache and an english
hat to a snake or something in that manner, or even put a snake into a
holy grail heh.

But then again, I'm not sure if there'll be no copyright issues.


But surely only you and I and the other Pythonistas will recognize a Norwegian Blue when we see one.


Might be hard to get away from the snake, as was noted, its a level or two easier mental association than MP.


Logo? Maybe a Norweigian Blue on is back, one fut in e air, wit a snake ead off to is ide, grinningly wit a char-grin?



es not dead!




Eric Pederson
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
domainNot="@something.com"
domainIs=domainNot.replace("s","z")
ePrefix="".join([chr(ord(x)+1) for x in "do"])
mailMeAt=ePrefix+domainIs
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
A

Alex Stapleton

Well the most well known Flying Circus snake related sketch is probably
the one eyed trouser snake one, which is er-, probably less than a good
idea for a logo. The Snake with some sort of Monty Python themeing is
probably the best idea, but drawing a snake + large foot/16 ton
weight/holy grail/norweigan blue might be a bit tricky when you have to
make small sized icons, which is why the current snake is so handy. I
guess someone should watch the intro to flying circus, and/or the
animations from some of the movies for inspiration.

But on that note, how about a python + rose combo?

Eric said:
Since the word 'Python' would bring -some- sort of snake associations,
I
thought of combining snake and Monty Python symbolic, like making a
snake wind around a giant foot, or adding long mustache and an english
hat to a snake or something in that manner, or even put a snake into a
holy grail heh.

But then again, I'm not sure if there'll be no copyright issues.



But surely only you and I and the other Pythonistas will recognize a Norwegian Blue when we see one.


Might be hard to get away from the snake, as was noted, its a level or two easier mental association than MP.


Logo? Maybe a Norweigian Blue on is back, one fut in e air, wit a snake ead off to is ide, grinningly wit a char-grin?



es not dead!




Eric Pederson
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
domainNot="@something.com"
domainIs=domainNot.replace("s","z")
ePrefix="".join([chr(ord(x)+1) for x in "do"])
mailMeAt=ePrefix+domainIs
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
A

Adil Hasan

Would a parrot on it's back be better?
adil


Well the most well known Flying Circus snake related sketch is probably
the one eyed trouser snake one, which is er-, probably less than a good
idea for a logo. The Snake with some sort of Monty Python themeing is
probably the best idea, but drawing a snake + large foot/16 ton
weight/holy grail/norweigan blue might be a bit tricky when you have to
make small sized icons, which is why the current snake is so handy. I
guess someone should watch the intro to flying circus, and/or the
animations from some of the movies for inspiration.

But on that note, how about a python + rose combo?

Eric said:
Since the word 'Python' would bring -some- sort of snake associations,
I
thought of combining snake and Monty Python symbolic, like making a
snake wind around a giant foot, or adding long mustache and an english
hat to a snake or something in that manner, or even put a snake into a
holy grail heh.

But then again, I'm not sure if there'll be no copyright issues.



But surely only you and I and the other Pythonistas will recognize a Norwegian Blue when we see one.


Might be hard to get away from the snake, as was noted, its a level or two easier mental association than MP.


Logo? Maybe a Norweigian Blue on is back, one fut in e air, wit a snake ead off to is ide, grinningly wit a char-grin?



es not dead!




Eric Pederson
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
domainNot="@something.com"
domainIs=domainNot.replace("s","z")
ePrefix="".join([chr(ord(x)+1) for x in "do"])
mailMeAt=ePrefix+domainIs
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
A

Alex Stapleton

The problem with parrots is that Perl 6's engine is called Parrot.
Although I suppose the image of a dead Parrot/snake eating a parrot etc
could be a "good" one in some peoples minds. But i'm not sure Perl
people are really the sort that you wan't to make enemies of, they are
deadly with custard pies. It's a bit immature to insult another language
like that anyway, not thats the idea you where going for of course.


Adil said:
Would a parrot on it's back be better?
adil


Well the most well known Flying Circus snake related sketch is probably
the one eyed trouser snake one, which is er-, probably less than a good
idea for a logo. The Snake with some sort of Monty Python themeing is
probably the best idea, but drawing a snake + large foot/16 ton
weight/holy grail/norweigan blue might be a bit tricky when you have to
make small sized icons, which is why the current snake is so handy. I
guess someone should watch the intro to flying circus, and/or the
animations from some of the movies for inspiration.

But on that note, how about a python + rose combo?

Eric said:
Since the word 'Python' would bring -some- sort of snake associations,
I
thought of combining snake and Monty Python symbolic, like making a
snake wind around a giant foot, or adding long mustache and an english
hat to a snake or something in that manner, or even put a snake into a
holy grail heh.

But then again, I'm not sure if there'll be no copyright issues.



But surely only you and I and the other Pythonistas will recognize a Norwegian Blue when we see one.


Might be hard to get away from the snake, as was noted, its a level or two easier mental association than MP.


Logo? Maybe a Norweigian Blue on is back, one fut in e air, wit a snake ead off to is ide, grinningly wit a char-grin?



es not dead!




Eric Pederson
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
domainNot="@something.com"
domainIs=domainNot.replace("s","z")
ePrefix="".join([chr(ord(x)+1) for x in "do"])
mailMeAt=ePrefix+domainIs
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
J

Jeremy Jones

Luis said:
Hey Dimitri,

I completely agree with you in that Python needs once for all a cool
logo.
I like your design very much, but I have a few thoughts about it:

1) I think that Python's logo should reflect its power.
Vorpal Bunny. Now, *that's* power.
If we use a mascot as its image, we would be giving the wrong idea:
that Python is a "toy" language, instead of a very good alternative to
other mainstream languages.

2) We should also bear in mind Guido's oppinion about using a snake for
identifying Python.
I've been googling for this today. So, what exactly is Guido's opinion
on snake logos?
3) And finally, we should consider it very seriously. Image is not
everything, but it is very important for "marketing" a product. I'm
sure that if Java didn't have a cool name and a cool logo, it wouldn't
have been that succesfull.

I don't mean to sound like I'm rejecting your idea. I really like it
alot, and it is an excellent mascot.
It's just that I wouldn't use a mascot... I'd rather use a more
"killer" image.
There's not much more of a "killer" than a Vorpal Bunny. Those things
are vicious.
Something that reflects power and excellence.
I see some similarities between Vorpal Bunnies and Python (the language):

- Pleasing to the eye
- Deceptively powerful
- Gets the job done - and then some
What do you think?
Vorpal Bunny. Because every other logo lacks the power of a rodential
killer.


0.5-wink-ly y'rs,

Jeremy Jones
 
W

wk8l

I thought there was probably already an official mascot. There's a
little green snake with his tongue hanging out on the left of the URL
when you visit www.python.org. I see it in my Safari browser on Mac OS
X and in Firefox, but not in Internet Exploder. I thought that I had
seen a large picture somewhere, but can't find it now.
I don't know if he has an official name, but I've been calling him
Monty. Monty, the Python; not to be confused with Monty Python of
course ;)

Dan
 
I

infidel

Not that my opinion is worth anything in these matters, but I like the
upper-left example at http://exogen.cwru.edu/python.png the best (out
of the samples I've seen thus far). I don't like the "gear" shape, and
I think adding a coil or circle around the "head" detracts somewhat
from the look. I like the clean, sharp lines - seems very metaphorical
for the language. My only critique would be that it appears (to me)
much like a clan insignia from Battletech. Not that such is a bad
thing, mind you.

I think people are a little over-anxious regarding copyright
infringement. I think a snake around a holy grail would be a fine
logo, "the holy grail of programming languages" seems appropriate to
me. There's no way that MPFC can have rights over all possible
combinations of "Python" and "Holy Grail". Chill out, people.
 

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