I know folks love the gopher, but I’m a fan of this to be honest.
The hand drawn gopher just looked... childish? It definitely didn’t give me the impression of an efficient and well put together programming language.
The hand drawn gopher just looked... childish? It definitely didn’t give me the impression of an efficient and well put together programming language.
I'm sure he'll still be around as a mascot. He's still on the site's main page. I really don't see the problem with him -- most commercial internet servers run a kernel with a cute penguin mascot, and many of the rest run a kernel with a cute mascot who is literally the Devil -- but I can appreciate the strategy of opening with a punchy, barebones logotype.
About 15 years ago—long before the Go project—the gopher first appeared as a promotion for the WFMU radio station in New Jersey. Renee French was commissioned to design a T-shirt for an annual fundraiser and out came the gopher.
It was too detailed to use as an icon, and the lines were too thin to look good when printed.