Ollie the Twitter Bird

It had to happen – twitter's little tweeter has had many incarnations in the past few years, perhaps none flying higher than that of the app Twitterrific. A little birdie’s told me that David Lanham of the Iconfactory has given him not only a 3D vinyl make-over, but a name...

Q: Why 'Ollie'?

A: The name Ollie was whittled down from a long list of options, everyone at the Iconfactory voted on their favorites and Ollie ended up the winner! I personally love how it's short and cute and a bit reminiscent of the skateboard move. Overall though we didn't want a name that overpowered the Twitterrific brand name, just something to give our mascot some extra character.


Q: How did the guys at Twitterrific come to ask you for the 3D realisation of their design?


A: I've been working making my personal illustrations and drawings into toys for the last two years, so it was a natural fit since I could crossover some of my personal work with what I do during the day, it's kind of an extension of the freeware icon sets I create for release with Iconfactory, they've always been really great about letting the designers do their own thing and have some fun.


Q: Can you tell us a bit about your other work with StrangeKiss?

A: I've worked with StrangeKiss on two released toys as well as a few unreleased designs that are still in production. My first toy with them was Zog which I was lucky enough to have Frank Kozik work up a custom colorway for, and then this year I released Bill the Yeti which Kozik returned for as well as a custom design by MAD.



Q: How did you get into the art toy thing?

A: I've been friends with StrangeKiss' owner, Michael Stills, for quite a few years. I had web hosting under Michael's company and as he's transitioned from web hosting to designer toy resale to producing his own toys, I was able to stay along for the ride and be a really lucky guinea pig.

Q: You've worked for Mozilla designing fantastic stuff for Firefox. What's been your favourite job?

A: My favorite collaboration with them so far has been the 'Bubble Bay' drawing that I worked with Mozilla and Infectious, which was released in many formats and device skins. So it was really rewarding to brighten up the physical devices of other people rather than just the digital wallpapers that I am normally limited to.



Q: How does your personal work differ from that of the Iconfactory?

A: Most of the professional work I do at the Iconfactory is very detailed and tight since icons have been heading in a very realistic style of rendering lately. My personal work retains some higher levels of detail, but for the most part it's much more loose and fluid than I can be with most client projects. Both ways of working are really fun though and in the end they balance each other out nicely, I'd probably go crazy if I had to always do one or the other.


Q: How was Ollie received at SDCC this year?

As far as I could tell, he was immensely popular. I really don't think you can go wrong with an adorable little bluebird though, he just appeals to a really wide audience whether or not they've heard of Twitter or Twitterrific. So our plan for world domination seems to be right on track!


Q: So far, there's one variant listed - a flocked version. If he's successful, are you planning on any more?

A: We definitely have a few ideas planned, maybe some guest designers as well. Those should be showing up not too long after the basic version is out, but they'll all be pretty limited quantities in smaller runs.



Q: Do you think that other Twitter apps will follow suit?

A: As a toy collector, I'd really love for them to follow along, but the production side is pretty pricey so that may be a hindrance to some of the independent software shops.

Thanks to David Lanham @dlangham, @Twitterrific and the Iconfactory @iconfactory for this – and to Plastic and Plush for the imagery. Keep an eye out for Ollie going on sale here!