[ocaml-biz] adjectives about OCaml

[Tony Edgin]

>> Tony Edgin wrote:
>> Possibly, the warrior could be a
>> veiled female with aluring eyes.
>
> Brandon Van Every wrote:
> I think we need to work more on what marketing messages 
> we're trying to send.  I propose that we brainstorm 
> adjectives or properties of OCaml, rather than images.  Here 
> are some:
> 
> fast
> abstract
> type safe
> reliable
> high level
> practical
>
> If we can get our message down to 3 words, then we'll better 
> know what images are appropriate and what aren't.  For 
> example, in the case of Python we settled on "simple, 
> elegant, powerful."  Then we designed logos that we hoped 
> would reflect those qualities.

Maybe this is premature also, but in addition to explicit
properties, we need implicit "touchy-feely" properties which
the mascot image should convey.  The explicit properties
become Ocaml's high concept statement as well as being
conveyed by attributes of the mascot.  The implied properties
are only attributes of the mascot. They serve two purposes. 

First, implicit properties act as attention getters.  Upon
initial exposure, they make the potential user take notice of
the explicit properties and learn more about the product. 
Mysterious and sexy are two implicit properties which would
act as attention getters.

Second, implicit properties help the potential user identity
with the product.  This creates loyalty beyond what the
rational explicit properties on there own would create.  For
instance, coffee drinking programmers identify with Java's
steaming coffee cup.  Anthropomorphism is one such implcit
property of a mascot which aids in this identification.

Tony Edgin