Ben the Badger

The back story:

In February, CfA Fellows gathered to discuss the branding of the organization, mostly just to orient ourselves to it. One of the ways I like to do this with any brand is to do a word association exercise. I like to start by writing down obvious words (government, technology, etc.) then move to related words, then finally abstract. In the abstract section I asked “what kind of animal would represent Code for America”? (Note: Youtube user czg123′s (aka Randall) had his vote well documented already [NSFW].)

Badger was a crowd favorite (along with rabbit and panda to name a few). Over the last few months this discussion has become a bit of a hot topic among fellows and staff. Alan Palazzolo has even created a Badger vs. Panda voting system to help highlight the overwhelming popularity of the badger mentality (eat cobras, take naps, “don’t give a…”) but was actually a study on online voting systems.

In conjunction with Alan’s app, I undertook a project to sculpt a 5″ Ben the Badger figurine that would finally put the debate to rest. Here’s what I have so far…

I will be doing a 3D scan of the model and then making a digital version (both left and right sides). We can then use a hi-res 3D printer to produce a master and then mold and produce replicas. I hope they are affordable enough so we can give them as a gift to our friends in the cities and as a token to remember our fellowship by.