Channel mascots

A mascot is a recurring character of the channel's own — a small round robot with one curious eye, a cheerful drop of water, a wary octopus — drawn in code in the channel's style and colours. Once you approve it, every new episode gives it a part in its own story: a guide who points at the consequence, a witness at human scale, the one the numbers happen to.

What it does#

A recurring character makes a channel recognisable at a glance. YouTube's monetisation rules refuse channels where content "feels interchangeable from video to video", and accept a recurring character only when every video gives it a new story — so a mascot here is never the subject of an episode, and never repeats itself:

• it plays a part chosen for that episode's topic — never the same gag, pose sequence, line or opening as an earlier episode of the channel, never in place of the topic, never in every shot;
• it is on screen in two to four moments, at most a third of the running time, never over the text band and never covering what the caption names;
• it never speaks in text: the narrator says what it says, or it reacts without words — every word on screen stays in the one caption band;
• it is always drawn the same way, by its own module in the kit, in its own colours.

What a design is#

The design is a small character module added to the channel's kit, drawn with shapes and curves — no picture, no photograph, no font. It has:

It comes with a short manual for the episode agent: what the character is like, when to use each pose and expression, its size beside people and objects, and where it reads best in a vertical frame.

How to use it#

Design a mascot#

1. Build the channel's kit first: the mascot is drawn by it. Until then the card says "Build the channel's kit first: the mascot is drawn by it."
2. On the channel page, find Mascot.
3. Fill in:
   • Its name — 1 to 40 letters, digits, spaces, apostrophes or hyphens, for example "Pip";
   • What it is like — 20 to 600 characters: what it is, its personality, how it looks. An original character: never a real person's likeness, a known character or another brand's mascot, and no links.
4. Check the price under the form and press Design the mascot.

An agent designs it on a GPU box, in the channel's own style, and checks it — about 30 to 60 minutes. The card shows Being designed and a link to follow the job.

A good description says what it is, how it behaves and how it looks: "A small round robot with one big curious eye, who gets excited by numbers and flinches at loud bangs."

Approve it#

When the design passes its checks, its contact sheet appears on the card — every pose with every expression, and each action at three moments — with its poses, expressions and actions listed under it, and the badge Waiting for you.

• Make it the channel's mascot — it joins every new episode from then on. If the channel had a mascot before, the new one replaces it.
• Not this one — nothing changes; design another whenever you like.

Episodes already made stay as they are either way.

Retire it#

Retire it, on the approved mascot's card, takes it out of new episodes. You can design another at any time (Design another).

Settings#

States#

Credits and plans#

• Designing a mascot is one GPU job: an agent and its renders, charged what they really used at your plan's rate. Its price is shown under the form before it starts; the typical figure for each plan is in the pricing page's "What things cost" table, as "A mascot".
• A design that does not pass its checks is not charged.
• Approving, rejecting and retiring are free, and so is the mascot's part in each episode.
• Mascots are on every plan, the Trial included, within its credits.

Limits and good to know#

• Who can do what: editors, admins and owners design, approve, reject and retire mascots.
• One mascot drawing per channel. A channel's kit holds one mascot module: a new design that passes its checks takes the place of the previous drawing in the kit straight away. Design a new mascot when you mean to replace the one you have, and decide on it promptly.
• The mascot is not in the brand suite: the logo and banners keep the channel's emblem.
• Language twins of the channel take its approved mascot with them. See Languages and twins.
• Its words are the narrator's: the mascot itself never speaks on screen. See Voices.

Troubleshooting#

• "Describe an original character…" The description named a known character, a brand or a real person. Describe your own character in your own words.
• "A design is already on its way." One design at a time per channel: wait for it to finish.
• "Did not pass its checks." The card says what failed. Adjust the description if it helps, and design again.

Related#

• Channels and kits — the kit the mascot is part of
• Episodes — how each new episode uses it
• Voices, casts and brand voice — the narrator who speaks for it
• Originality guard and checker — why every episode stays different