Decide on official mascot

[petejohanson]

A while back, we had a Discord discussion about the need for a mascot (and corresponding logo) for the ZMK project that is more than just the letters "ZMK" with a background.

Another goal of the effort is to eventually be able to make stickers for ZMK users/contributors as well.

The intent is to use this issue get feedback from the community on some of the top candidates, before making a final decision.

Process

I intend to leave this issue open for "voting" for the next week, ending 9/28. For each of the candidates, I've included an emoji that you can +1 on the top issues description to place your vote for that mascot. PLEASE only add a comment, if you would like to discuss process, or propose alternate mascots not already in the list.

The intent is NOT for the community to decide, but to offer feedback on some options. Ultimately, I will make the final call on the choice of mascot.

I have checked https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_computing_mascots and don't see any easily documented "taken" mascots, except for perhaps the Zorro.

Candidates

👍 Griffin

Griffin - the mythical creature

• Captures wireless + wired in one creature
• "Strong"

😃 Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon - the fastest animal on the planet

• Bird of prey!
• Captures wireless essence.
• Imparts notion of speed and agility

🎉 Zapata Wren

Zapata Wren - tiny cool bird.

• Name starts with a Z, like Zephyr RTOS.
• Wrens are "spunky", with lots of personality/attitude.
• They eat bugs, which is helpful for us.
• Distinctive shape, upturned tail, will fit well on a smaller logo.

🚀 Zorro

Zorro, or south american fox - a few species of foxes.

• Name starts with a Z, like Zephyr RTOS
• Fox is a super cute animal
• They're fast, and intelligent
• Possible con: Quasi-used for GitLab mascot.

[procom32]

Zany Zebras Zephyring Zinc Zeplins :)
https://i.imgur.com/V4gY3fy.jpg

[Na-Cly]

Normally I can only stand to 3 stock fox, but in this case I think Zorro.

[petejohanson]

The Zapata Wren seems to be a fairly strong contender, with the Zorro not that far behind. Will consider and make a final decision on this soon. Once that's done, we'll need to find a designer to help out!

[petejohanson]

Ok, so slept on this for a day.

Zapata Wren it is! They're super cute, and I think will translate well to both a full mascot, and smaller logo formats.

I'll be closing this issue shortly, and open a new issue to track trying to get the new graphics created.

Thanks everyone!