Meet Jack

Meet Jack the Lumberjack. He's the new mascot for Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS.

When working on the e-book, I wanted to have something that could provide an identity for the book and for the project. The idea of it being a lumberjack quickly came to mind. I liked the idea of a lumberjack for a number of reasons.

For those that aren't aware, I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Ottawa used to be home to some of the largest lumber barons in the world. That's right: Ottawa had a few lumberjacks in its day. So, the connection of the mascot to the city was nice to have.

When trying to describe what this lumberjack would look like, I pictured him in a plaid jacket sporting a lovely beard. How hipster designer, I thought. I was half tempted to give him some glasses, too.

With a quick sketch that I drew for inspiration, I enlisted the help of Kyle Jones. I told him what I was looking for someone that had that Yukon Cornelius vibe. Somebody who could take on the abominable snowman with ease. (Just as Jack can take on CSS with ease!)

As we went through the final touch-ups, we had the plaid jacket but I debated about the colour of the hat. Red, maybe? Nah, too much like Santa. Instead, I went with blue. What better way to celebrate web standards than with a blue toque? (Sorry, beanie.)

Kyle came through and delivered a top notch illustration.

And that's the story of Jack the Lumberjack.

If you haven't already, head over to SMACSS and check out the new site. The e-book is now for sale with plenty more to come. I recommend signing up for the mailing list!

P.S. I might have to make some t-shirts.