Twitter logo creator tweets about life and his 15 minutes
The Washington Post
June 21, 2009
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| Flying high: Artist Simon Oxley is the man behind the bird logo used by Twitter. (Photo illustration by Noriko Oxley) |
Japan-based artist Simon Oxley has created thousands of illustrations, yet there is a particular one that is iconic to millions. And for which he was paid a grand sum of ... less than seven bucks.
The image? The Twitter bird that is the iconic symbol for the San Francisco-based social messaging service.
Oxley, who grew up in England, has created countless bright, engaging images for the stock-library company iStockPhoto, using Adobe Illustrator and “vector-based” images.
Oxley (age? “I am in my 40th year”), who lives with his wife, Noriko, and family in Fukuoka, recently discussed his work in far more than 140 characters:
Q: You’ve been in Japan for more than a decade — with its dizzying mix of old (Edo woodblock prints) and new (plastic toy/manga culture). From where do you draw inspiration?
A: As a designer, I find reference points everywhere and try to always look deeper than the surface. ... The rich cultural heritage of Japan has directly influenced my imagemaking and attitude towards many things, and having very young children has exposed me to children’s TV programs such as “Zenmai Zamurai” — a clockwork samurai who defeats wrongdoers by tossing manju (lumpy, gooey rice) into their mouths.
Q: Your work has an international appeal — why is that?
A: The locations I have settled in have given me the chance to observe the world through various cultural windows. I have visited San Francisco, Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, France, Austria, Spain, Korea and lived in Bahrain and now Japan, so I have gathered a great deal of references and experiences along the way. ... Travel keeps things fresh for me — and of course helps one view places with a childlike sense of wonder.
Q: Your stock bird illustrations receive such high visibility via Twitter — has that been interesting to see play out?
A: Twitter has used my bird image as a decorative element on their site — it is not officially the logo, and they do not sell products carrying the image, so they are totally free to carry on using it. I am, of course, really happy to see it being used by such a successful venture — the question of financial compensation is often raised. I do not harbor any negative feelings about the apparently low fee, [as the situation] has given me exciting opportunities to step into the media spotlight for 15 minutes.
