In light of all the hilarious 'best practices' talk after the github/rails incident, the best practice in this situation is to hire a graphic designer to do even this early stage mascot research.<p>Why you ask? Much like API design, a logo/mascot/etc, once you commit to it, is <i>very hard to change.</i> People talk about software that scales, but keep in mind, <i>identities need to scale</i> too. The standard logo/identity course in any design program goes into this and forces you to think about identity not only as a mascot, but as a <i>system.</i><p>This isn't to say that any of the submissions proffered wouldn't be valuable, they might be! But the whole thing that happens when you pick up a designer is that you also are implicitly asking them to research how your brand/logo appears on a shirt, on a business card, in press clippings, on sponsorship banners, and so forth.<p>These are all things that are incredibly easy to ignore because, unless you've done this before, it's really hard to get an identity right the first time.<p>Also, why's it gotta be an animal? What ever happened to those insanely geometric but disturbingly sinister-looking corporate logos from back in the day? ;)