An animal for Julia?

[cormullion]

In that long “What can we do to make Julia grow fast” thread, @John_Hearns suggests that what Julia really needs is a cuddly animal. (I’m not sure I totally agree with him but it’s an interesting idea to pursue…

The trouble is that, like good names, so many of the good ideas have already been used. The software/animal trope that O’Reilly books popularized used any old random animal they had a print of lying around:

Suitable animals like the cheetah have been grabbed (the Cheetah templating engine for Python…).

So finding a distinctive and less-commonly used animal mascot might be difficult. However, we could investigate some mythological creatures:

I could imagine an imaginary beast like the Julyax being quite cute if an artist got to work on it. I’m not an artist, but I think this little beast might have some promise - I added a few Julia colors:

She’s cuter than a horse-shark, that’s for sure…

[Datseris]

hahahahaha I am dying now

[Evizero]

FWIW I feel like the three dots are already great and very recognizable. They look modern and friendly but still feel professional. Having some avatar just adds a certain kind of silliness. I don’t get the appeal.

[xiaodai]

Tech has always a bit irreverent. Look at copyleft and GNU is not Unix. I don’t see why Julia can’t be.

[giordano]

Did you really invent all of that?

[chakravala]

yo, that Julyax is awesome ~

[favba]

A Pegasus:

https://goo.gl/images/rQmuYB

Julia is fast and a bit magical

[ChrisRackauckas]

@cormullion you are the best. I ship this 100%.

[smldis]

I remember I heard someone (…) calling the julia community a wolfpack.

[tpoisot]

Can I suggest a real animal?

The mollusc Julia exquisita is a very pretty gasteropod (think under water snail). Which would be nice since Julia is so fast.

Their shells are really nice: http://www.gastropods.com/Shell_Images/ThumbNails/G-L/TN_Julia_exquisita_6.jpg

It’s also very distinctive with regard to what’s already in the O’Reily bestiary.

[Crghilardi]

Mantis Shrimp?. I feel like the three color palette from the dots logo can be worked in there somehow…

[mkborregaard]

I’ll definitely tip my hat to @cormullion for faking a wikipedia page with a medieval drawing of his proposed mascot. This is the kind of creativity and determination the julia community needs. I also think the mascot is cute.

[John_Hearns]

The Julyax is cute. And she has claws. The reasons for an animal mascot are to draw people to stands at meetings; to make stickers as @cormullion has done superbly; to provide material for T-shirts and cuddly toys.

I agree that the three dots Julia logo is superb - it is clean and modern, and has been adapted for use by the Julia specialist groups. I still think there is room for cuddly animal. With claws.

[John_Hearns]

@favba A Pegasus is a good idea. I was in Arnhem in the Netherlands at the beginning of September, and I should say that most of the world’s airborne forces probably have Pegasus as a mascot already. While I don’t think there will be any barfights between paratroopers and Julia fans…

[tpoisot]

Good point. We can absolutely have a logo, and a patronus for the Julia community. I think both should coexist depending on the context and the audience.

[cormullion]

Thanks for the kind comments and suggestions everyone! It was fun…

[ElOceanografo]

Or how about Orthetrum julia, the Julia Skimmer, a central African dragonfly? It’s colorful, fast, agile, and its face is evocative of the three dots logo…

[tpoisot]

Yes! That’s a really solid suggestion.

[StefanKarpinski]

Obviously, we wouldn’t settle for just a pegasus or a unicorn – Julia would be a pegacorn, the best of both worlds:

[Copyright © cobaltplasma]

[ExpandingMan]

I feel that a unicorns and pegasuses (plural?) are a bit too generic. I’d advocate something weird like an HP Lovecraft creature or something. It would be great to have something as weird and unique as the octocat.

I also thought the dragonfly and cat-dragon-thing were pretty good suggestions.