mascot

🍄

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An IndieWeb mascot could offer a visual representation of the community, and create fun & welcoming visual explanations; a mushroom (🍄) has been proposed for the IndieWeb mascot.

Tracy Durnell drew up some initial mushroom mascot illustrations at IndieWeb Create Day 2021-10-09 (Open to suggestions and ideas of activities for a mushroom to do!), which had a positive reception by participants. There was also a suggestion to consider dropping a mushroom emoji 🍄 into social media profiles to indicate IndieWeb presence, solidarity, support.

Previously, at the 2021-04-21 Homebrew Website Club - Americas, there was some discussion of the value of a mascot for the Indie Web. Documenting and continuing to add thoughts here. Please vote for your preference, and/or add thoughts and comments! -- Tracy Durnell 2021-05-05

Brand Notes

the IndieWeb represents multiple different elements at once: the community using the Indie Web, the tools that provide the infrastructure for the Indie Web, and the philosophy of the Indie Web
visually, an Indie Web Camp logo already exists, featuring warm colors and geometric elements

Mascot Ideas

At the 2021-04-21 Homebrew Website Club - Americas, mushrooms and bees rose to the top as preferred mascot options.

Mushrooms

Metaphorically:

mushrooms and mycelium are apt for the connective nature of the Indie Web - mycelium form vast networks under the forest floor, and although only the mushrooms are visible, the fungus organism spreads much farther and is vital ecologically

Benefits

mushrooms have a great diversity in appearance, which complements the plurality principle and is anti-monoculture
mushrooms are fruiting bodies, e.g. the fruits of our labors

Visually:

mushrooms can be cute!
mushrooms come in many shapes for visual variety
mushrooms come in many colors, including red, orange, and yellow, to complement the existing Indie Web Camp logo
🍄 has an emoji

Considerations

avoid drug and phallic associations in design

Interest

Add your +1 for interest in this topic:

Jacky Alciné
+1 Tantek Çelik
+1 Tracy Durnell
+1 Angelo Gladding
+1 Chris Aldrich
Add yourself here… (see this for more details)

Mushroom emoji meanings

From a handful of references:

A few meanings that seem positive or relatively harmless, in order of frequency/prominence in references:

exciting, regain energy, e.g. power up mushroom in the Super Mario Bros (regain power over your online identity & data)
psychedelic, something for the imagination, feel like a bit out of your mind (perhaps an encouragement to imagine & see things differently than the world of silos)
nature, together with 🌲 Evergreen Tree or 🍀 clover emoji to illustrate the forest (towards a sustainable web community)
autumn/fall season, used with 🍂🍁 fall leaves
dark, damp places

Unfortunate possible meanings:

something poisonous