BART's Anime Mascots

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.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuru-chara

[1] https://nava.org/good-flag-bad-flag

> 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

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.

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/

> 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

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.

I would feel offended if they chose anything else lol. But the orca mascot is cute. Well done Seattle

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?

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

Opal in Sydney

Opals aren't sea-related.

> 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.)

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.

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.

Wellington has the Snapper Card

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.

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.

  > There is no benefit to having people be able to draw the flag accurately. A flag has two purposes:

The purposes you mention are much more easily achieved by being simple to draw.

Yes, it is something "someone is arguing" but it's congruent with general design principles you will see in most domains.

  > 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.

She's not exactly wrong. Many countries use variants of flags for different uses. In the case of Spain[0] the civil flag does not have the coat of arms.

For a similar case, see the flag of Germany[1], Austria[2], Peru[3], Finland[4], Italy[5], and need I go on?

I don't think you should be ashamed for not knowing, but it's worth recognizing how easy it is to miscommunicate because different inherent assumptions are being made. In your case it is unsurprising that there is this disagreement because she sees the civil flag commonly and you don't, so it seems like a cop-out to you while it is pretty reasonable for her. There's surprisingly (annoyingly) a lot of depth to seemingly simple things.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Spain

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Germany

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Austria

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Peru

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Finland

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Italy

Real world constraints mean any well constructed principle must at times be violated. That's not a flaw in the principle. A good principle for principles ("rules" in varying uses of the word) is that they need to be simple. Rules/principles of any kind are guides not immutable policies. It would be insane to create immutable policies as the world is constantly changing.

If a rule is overly complex, no one can remember it and there can be no expectation for people to follow.

tldr: All rules are guides. Be they rules rules or "rules" rules

Yes makes sense, I’m more talking about the way people use it in casual conversations than what it is in reality. Obviously it’s not a real “rule” with anyone enforcing it, flags children can draw aren’t actually generally inherently better in any non-subjective sense, and reality is a complex place.

I realize people technically say things to look smart, but i think you might have a specific beef with this topic. How often does the subject of evaluating flag quality come up in your social circles?

> The purposes you mention are much more easily achieved by being simple to draw.

No, that is not true for either purpose. Being simple to draw is a negative in both cases:

(1) Things that are simple to draw can be easy to recognize, but things that are complex are easier to recognize.

(2) Things that are simple to draw are never visually impressive.

And the flags that are easy to draw are so simple that it's interfering with the ability to recognize them. The first example there would be Ireland vs the Ivory Coast:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ireland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ivory_Coast

Another common confusion is Russia vs France, though in that case someone who needs to be able to tell the difference won't have trouble:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Russia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_France

> For a similar case, see the flag of Germany[1], Austria[2], Peru[3], Finland[4], Italy[5], and need I go on?

Go on? Try beginning first. Every single one of those links presents the flag without the coat of arms as a default and the flag with the coat of arms as a special case.

I was just as surprised as you are, though mainly it happens on Reddit rather than with anyone I would know personally. By the fifth, sixth time of the exact same reply, you really wonder what’s going on there and look into it. I’m not involved in flag related conversation circles otherwise.