Go is a programming language whose dominant demographic is nerds.
> ... can you imagine for a second that gopher on anything Apple?
Apple is a consumer oriented tech firm whose niche is high end goods.
> Reading the comments here makes it clear why most programmers should stay away from design.
You don't say.
http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/_english/bs-d...
Hence why we need a new logo to attract developers from other demographics. A good language without a diverse and wide set of users is worthless.
Here's a more down-to-earth thought experiment:
Think about the intentions/audience behind a programming language vs the intentions behind a massive consumer product company like Apple.
I like the programming languages I use to be free and open-source - not constricted by some gigantic corporation (coughOracle). Free, open ideals come from the old hobbyist counter culture a few decades ago. That stuff predates me but when I see that ridiculous gopher I feel like they don't care about how they look, and would rather focus on the language itself and keeping their audience (devs) happy. Kind of like - no one cares about the suit, I don't care how you look - just get stuff done.
All this begs the question - why the fuck did they spend time on this branding?
I think google is trying to make Go look serious and respectable from a business guy point of view, and especially not make them think "it's a hobbyist counter-culture thing". No one cares about the suit ? You bet those guys do, they wear suits.
OK, its old - but it certainly served the same purpose in branding "the priesthood" that lived and breathed the ecosystem.
Less prevelent: see Hexley, Darwin's (unofficial) BSD-Devil Platypus mascot - http://www.hexley.com
Sometimes people are the problem. Of course they're just names and have no incidence whatsoever on the relevance of a project. Until they do. For terrible reasons.
Point being, its not like it was contracted to a professional design team. They took a very efficient programmer-like path: have a relative who knows design make it. And I love that as a geek, and I love the gopher, but from the perspective of a design professional its time the language got a true logo in addition to a geeky mascot.
The mascot didn't go away. Too many people in the comments seems to be upset about it...
You mean like Hexley, the Darwin mascot?
Nerdy? Will you give Go a try if they rename themselves to Luxurious Smart Mice then? :DDDDD
The new logo is good and fit for enterprise
If good, clean text which displays in any browser is amateurish … then I prefer amateurism to professionalism.
I really appreciate that the Go website (appears to be) good, clean HTML.
Not for long if the design company has their way. Just look at their site: http://within.us/
There's a long history of slightly or outright irreverent logos in the hacker community and you're on a forum that at the very least pays homage to that culture.
As others have pointed out, Hexley.
I've programmed for 20 years now, but that stupid gopher and the way it was everywhere was a serious put off for me on giving Go a look. Nerdy AF.
Good riddance.
I wonder if there was a huge internal battle between the brand savvy people which realized how terrible the gopher was, and the Go creators.
Guys, don't be so stereotypical, expand your horizon outside of Pokemon and Star Wars esthetics. I'll put it in a more obvious form: a lot of you like Apple, can you imagine for a second that gopher on anything Apple?
Downvotes away...