Comment by godelski
2 days ago
I do like the idea of mascots, but truthfully I think they are better done as non-human mascots and need to be simple. I think Japan got this right with Yura-chara[0]. There seems to be a strong preference for non-human characters and when there are human ones, they're still overly simplistic.
Seems like same rule about flags[1]: a child should be able to draw it from memory.
Only Barty seems to fit these conditions.
Not for a transit system per se, but the ORCA farecard in Seattle has a mascot named Boop, who is an orca: https://info.myorca.com/news/meet-boop/
There's quite a precedent of sea-related names for transit fare cards. Hong Kong's Octopus, London's Oyster, San Francisco's Clipper... any others I've missed?
Wellington has the Snapper Card
Opal in Sydney
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I would feel offended if they chose anything else lol. But the orca mascot is cute. Well done Seattle
I always thought this “a child should be able to draw it” thing was an even better example of a vaguely contrarian factoid that sort of makes you sound smart if you don’t think about it too much, so it becomes endlessly repeated. Which is an interesting phenomenon in its own way.
It's not a fact(oid) at all as it's not a statement about reality. it's a principle. You don't have to agree with it, but others might disagree about the quality of the flag you might produce avoiding it.
Sure but I’m more talking about the way people use it than what it is in reality. Obviously it’s not a real truism, but if you heard it once then it’s something vaguely smart sounding you can say whenever a topic about flags comes up, even when it’s essentially a non-sequitur as in this case. People find it nearly irresistible to mention, which is fascinating.
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Interesting point. Can anyone here draw a geometrically, not semantically, accurate Apple logo, without references? I can't, a reasonably convincing humanoid heads are much easier than that.
Agreed. Nyango Star is another example of this sort of mascot done right. He's an apple, a cat, and a heavy metal drummer; what's not to love?
The first BART mascot has a little blue chibi goat next to the human girl, and I can't tell if the chibi is supposed to be an alternate form of the girl or a completely separate entity, but either way it seems like it could be a solid yura-chara.
> I think Japan got this right
I like DPS-kun from beatmaniaⅡᴅx copula: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcfmIKKMu7Y
They made a plush of him that's very cute too
> Seems like same rule about flags[1]: a child should be able to draw it from memory.
Im a grown ass man and can't draw the US flag properly from memory, much less the many far more complicated flags out there.
I don't think that definition is particularly useful.
It is a useful concept, and letting the whispers of the vexillophiles[0] into your head will lead you to see that most flags are well, pretty bad.
CGP Grey has a lot of opinions[1] about this.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexillology
[1] https://youtu.be/l4w6808wJcU
It's a "you should" kind of rule not a "everyone follows this with no exceptions" kind of rule. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I can think of an example of the latter
> It's a "you should" kind of rule not a "everyone follows this with no exceptions" kind of rule.
It's not a "you should" kind of rule either. It's something someone made up and wants to persuade other people of for no particular reason, similar to "don't split infinitives".
There is no benefit to having people be able to draw the flag accurately. A flag has two purposes:
1. Be easy to recognize.
2. Be visually impressive.
Two good flags are the flag of California and the flag of Saudi Arabia. You'd have a hard time drawing either one, but that's not a problem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia
(Note also that I've seen a Spaniard claim her flag was easy to draw. She meant that it's easy to draw if you don't bother to draw the coat of arms.)
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Look at the flags for Texas and Chile for a more reasonable version of the US flag. The new Minnesota flag is an example of a good flag by these rules as well.
They have non-human characters. The key mistake they made is that they put the human characters front and center. The human characters should appear in accompanying comics where they end up interacting with the animal mascots, not be the mascots themselves.