Simon Oxley

{{short description|British graphic designer (born 1969)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1969}}{{cite web |url=https://www.idokungfoo.com/bg |title=Biography |last=Oxley |first=Simon |website=idokungfoo.com |publisher=Simon Oxley |access-date=2017-04-19}}

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| nationality = British

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| occupation = Graphic designer

| years_active = 2002–present

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| notable_works = {{Plainlist|

• GitHub mascot
• Twitter logo}}

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Simon Oxley (born 1969) is a British freelance graphic designer who is most famous for designing the original bird logo for Twitter, the Octocat logo for GitHub, a mascot for [https://www.indiehackers.com/product/yenicorn/the-first-sighting--M57ao-jO35eOmYrvpDG YEN], and the Cody mascot for Software.com.{{Cite news|publisher=PandoDaily|url=http://pando.com/2013/07/08/original-github-octocat-designer-simon-oxley-on-his-famous-creation-i-dont-remember-drawing-it/|title=Original GitHub Octocat designer Simon Oxley on his famous creation: "I don't remember drawing it"|author=Carmel Deamicis|date=July 8, 2013}} Oxley was a prolific contributor to the iStockphoto site, which he had joined because of a free promotional offer for purchasers of the Adobe Creative Suite. Both companies purchased Oxley's designs from the website (Twitter paid $10–15 for its logo, of which Oxley received $2–6){{cite news|publisher=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2009/03/twitter-designe/|date=March 13, 2009|author=Eliot van Buskirk|title=Twitter Paid $6 or Less for Crowdsourced 'Birdie' Graphic}} but the licence did not allow them to use the works as logos. Twitter's founders redesigned their logo in response, but GitHub asked Oxley for permission, which he granted.{{cite news|publisher=Fast Company|url=http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672164/meet-the-accidental-designer-of-the-github-and-twitter-logos|title=Meet The Accidental Designer Of The GitHub And Twitter Logos|date=April 26, 2013|author=Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan}} While the initial GitHub logo has gone on to develop into a more stylised form (the official "Invertocat" logo),{{cite web |title=GitHub Logos and Usage |url=https://github.com/logos |website=github.com |publisher=GitHub |access-date=6 September 2022}} GitHub developed Simon's original drawing into the Octocat logo and the character of "Mona Lisa the Octocat"{{cite web |url=https://cameronmcefee.com/work/the-octocat/ |website=Blog of Cameron McEfee |publisher=Cameron McEfee |access-date=6 September 2022|title=The Octocat—a nerdy household name }} which became a core part of their brand identity.

Simon credits Japanese popular art as an influence on his Twitter design and others, and said he was grateful for the wide distribution of his images despite receiving very little compensation.{{cite news|url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2009/06/friday--the_interview_twitter.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131182016/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2009/06/friday--the_interview_twitter.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 January 2011|newspaper=Washington Post|date=June 19, 2009|title=The Interview: 'Twitter Bird' Artist Simon Oxley|author=Michael Cavna}}