Meet Capy

The origin story of our beloved mascot, the ultimate master of chillness.

One of my regrets from our previous company, a small regret, was not deciding on a mascot. I know that seems like an insignificant worry, but the topic came up often in campaigns, promotions, kick-offs, and so on.

Since Atono means unstressed and our customers succeed by working effectively in teams we decided we had to find a mascot that embodies these values: a team player, not too flashy, hard-working but not a glory hog, and assertive but totally chill.

First on the list is a sloth. The Disney movie Zootopia already designated Flash the Sloth to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) – clearly, it's a better fit.

Next on the list is a Capybara. According to Wikipedia, they are:

• A social species (hey, we are social introverts too)

• Usually in groups of 10–20 individuals (exactly, around our team size now)

• Known to be gregarious (we are sort of Canadian-gregarious)

• And they are unstressed

Boom! We have found our mascot.

Tobias meets Capy

While researching, one of the founders, product owner Tobias, was in Japan and decided to attend a Capybara Onsen to validate our assumptions.

Be prepared to be de-stressed.

After seeing the pictures and videos, we just knew the Capybara was the one for us. From there, we set out to make Capy an integral part of the Atono brand.

Capy’s Creator

Our first step? Finding the right artist to bring Capy to life. One of our designers had previously shared some inspiration artwork, and when we saw it, we were hooked.

The calm, thoughtful and unique style felt like an instant match with what we wanted Atono to feel like for our customers. So, we reached out to the artist – Josh Brill. We had an initial chat, clicked right away, and the creative journey began.

From the start, we knew we wanted different variations of Capy and settled on a 3/4, side, and front view. As a bonus, we also wanted Capy to be in some sort of environment and as the beginning of the article alluded to, of course it had to be an onsen.

But, we quickly learned that creating a Capybara isn’t as easy as it sounds. We had a very specific look in mind, and while Capybaras are adorable, they’re tricky to get just right! We went through numerous tweaks (and I mean numerous) tweaks.

One of our main goals was to strike the right balance – making Capy realistic enough that people would immediately recognize it as a Capybara, while also ensuring it was iconic and stood out as more than just another animal illustration. Every detail, from its expression and movement to its colors, needed to reflect the Atono brand. We wanted Capy to feel like a natural complement when integrated into the product, yet strong enough to stand on its own in marketing materials. After many iterations, Capy finally emerged exactly as we had envisioned.

Already a team favorite, Capy will soon be making appearances in the Atono app, on our website, and at Atono events. Keep an eye out!