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May 20, 2006

Contemporary Character Design: Mojizu

Michael Arrington

24 comments »

Occasionally I’ll come across a new site that has no practical use (for me), but I loiter for one reason or another and just have fun with it. Irvine, California based Mojizu is that kind of site. It is an interactive community for artists and doodlers to showcase and discuss contemporary “character designs” that they’ve created. An individual character is called a “Moji”

Artists upload character images, which are displayed immediately. The community can view the designs, comment and rate them, and generally provide feedback. There is also a fun “Moji War” area where two characters are pitted against eachother to see which one is more popular. The winner moves on to further rounds, with cash prizes available to the ultimate winners.

Merchandise is also available through the MojiShop. Proceeds are split with the artist.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 20th, 2006 at 7:46 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

  1. SKaRCHa — Mojizu: Diseño de personajes

    May 21st, 2006 at 9:05 am

  2. Planet Damien » Blog Archive » Mojizu…

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  3. Mun’s Place : Where Mun talks about stuff » Mojizu, it’s a miracle

    May 22nd, 2006 at 5:47 am

  4. Ben Rowe’s Blog » Cool community of characters at Mojizu

    May 22nd, 2006 at 1:38 pm

  5. All Dugg » Mojizu: Contemporary Character Design

    May 23rd, 2006 at 2:33 am

  6. Dee’s-Planet! » Contemporary Character Design: Mojizu

    May 25th, 2006 at 1:22 pm

  7. Tech Industry » Mojizu: Contemporary Character Design

    September 11th, 2006 at 1:34 am

  8. Health Insurance

    February 21st, 2007 at 9:05 am

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Comments

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  1. Frank Gruber

    May 20th, 2006 at 8:08 am

    Oh come on Mike, Mojizu is the perfect place to start your search for the TechCrunch mascot!

  2. Michael Arrington

    May 20th, 2006 at 8:10 am

    I was thinking about that. A mascot could be cool. :-)

  3. Don Wilson

    May 20th, 2006 at 8:16 am

    At first I thought it was an online character creater and was interested, then I noticed that you just upload a photo. Boring.

  4. Michael Arrington

    May 20th, 2006 at 8:19 am

    Well, after you upload it there are other things that happen, too, like ratings and comments. But yes, it is a slow news day. :-)

  5. CoryS

    May 20th, 2006 at 8:29 am

    I thought the same thing as Don and would say that would be a great add given the creative pool they’ve got. http://www.designcontest.net is more transaction driven along those lines (haven’t used it yet, but seems interesting along the same lines).

  6. Startups.in

    May 20th, 2006 at 9:58 am

    Mike, If at all you come up with a TC mascot, then I’d guess you can find a practical use as well. Mojizu coule be a commercial platform to sell your branded merchandise just like CafePress.

    Regards,
    NagB /at/
    Startups.in

  7. Rod Edwards

    May 20th, 2006 at 11:42 am

    Hmmm… moji war is a lot like DVD Battle on one of my sites, UpcomingDiscs.com. Of course, that in turn was based on something that I saw on ricecop.com years ago (in my ricky-racer days)… interesting to see different implementations of ranking systems!

  8. Keith Dsouza

    May 20th, 2006 at 11:46 am

    Hey Micheal,

    Just wondering whether you have created you have already created a Moji, I would love to see one for Techcrunch showcased there ready to beat the hell out of the war.

    Cheers
    Keith

  9. Said

    May 20th, 2006 at 1:21 pm

    Isn’t the Internet and human spirit of creativity a beautiful thing to watch and experience or what? Man, it feels Great to be alive!

    The online dating industry evolved from generalist sites like match.com etc., to a growing and thriving number of niche dating sites that catered to race/ethnicity/special interests. Social networks (or Social Entertainment Portals as I prefer to call them) are now rapidly evolving in similar fashion.

    Enter Mojizu founded by friend, budding dreamer and Orange County resident Ali Sabet. In time I anticipate that the sites traffic will grow towards the ranks of Threadless.com — not so sure if it will reach Deviantart.com status given its current niche focus but who knows how the site will evolve and grow.

    Michael, I think that a logo for TechCrunch is long overdue and may appease the masses in the streets protesting the new layout with picket signs =) (j/k)

    Prosper,
    -Said

  10. el rufian

    May 20th, 2006 at 11:41 pm

    viva digg!

  11. Richard Hong

    May 21st, 2006 at 3:26 am

    To me, it’s a good place to find icons for forum. Wondering do they use CC for those images’ licences?

  12. Desik

    May 21st, 2006 at 8:33 am

    I think Mojizu is cool but its only going to sustainably appeal to those who are interested in creating characters, getting exposure and seeing other peoples work. I understand the ‘ why doesnt it have a facility to create characters ‘ criticism , but hey its not meant to be a substitute for art school.

    Also agree about Techcrunch being in dire need of a character, I see a little animated tech guy in a white coat with a magnifying glass closely scrutinising the screen . Boy I’m half way to drawing it already. See what effect Mojizu is having already? Someone should do something about that site……

  13. dean

    May 21st, 2006 at 11:04 am

    well for all you non-artists did you see the moji-con dispenser? It was the download of the day on lifehacker.com a couple of days ago. It allows you to use original characters as emoticons in your email and im’s..it’s great.. you need to refer to the faq a couple of times, but it’s a great tool..check it out..
    http://www.mojizu.com/Pages/mojicon.aspx

  14. Graydon

    May 21st, 2006 at 7:32 pm

    All they need is a couple more features that enable a business / site / person to submit a request for a logo and they’ll have the site I was wishing for here… http://marlincreek.com/content/view/61/35/

    That way TechCrunch could choose from multiple selections… even have people vote for the one that was best.

    Maybe you will have a use for the site.

  15. Ugo

    May 28th, 2006 at 7:06 pm

    Hi

    Just to notice that “Moji” in Japanese means “letter”, “character”. The kanji is 文字.

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