# X Profile Avatar Exploration, 2026-04-29

This folder records the avatar exploration for the `@clisbot` X profile on 2026-04-29.

The final live direction from this round is **v6, Polished Meo-CLI Mark**:

- Source asset: [`images/source/clisbot-avatar-v6-polished-meo-cli-mark.png`](images/source/clisbot-avatar-v6-polished-meo-cli-mark.png)
- Live profile proof: [`images/live/x-profile-avatar-v6-live.png`](images/live/x-profile-avatar-v6-live.png)

## Goal

Create a profile image that makes clisbot feel:

- recognizable at small social-avatar sizes;
- professional enough for a developer tool / AI agent product;
- modern, trustworthy, and technical;
- more ownable than a generic robot avatar;
- social enough to have mascot memory and viral potential.

## Final Landing

The selected direction is a **geometric cat-bot chat mark with a CLI face**.

It keeps three signals in one compact shape:

- **Cat-bot silhouette:** gives the account a memorable, repeatable mascot form instead of a generic SaaS icon.
- **Speech-bubble body:** ties directly to clisbot's core job: operating inside Slack, Telegram, X, and other conversation surfaces.
- **`>_` terminal face:** keeps the developer-agent identity obvious and readable even when the image is cropped into a small circle.

v6 is the current best baseline because it reduces the illustration feel from v5 and moves toward a cleaner logo mark: flatter geometry, stronger symmetry, fewer glow effects, less toy-like expression, and a tighter black/cyan contrast system.

## Iterations

| Version | Asset | Summary | Decision |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| v1 | [`images/source/clisbot-avatar-v1.png`](images/source/clisbot-avatar-v1.png), [`images/source/clisbot-avatar-v1.svg`](images/source/clisbot-avatar-v1.svg) | Early manual geometric avatar direction. | Useful starting point, but not distinctive enough for X. |
| v2 | [`images/source/clisbot-avatar-v2-generated.png`](images/source/clisbot-avatar-v2-generated.png) | Professional robot / terminal avatar with cyan, teal, charcoal, and amber accents. | Polished and trustworthy, but too generic and too detailed at small size. |
| v3 | [`images/source/clisbot-avatar-v3-recognizable.png`](images/source/clisbot-avatar-v3-recognizable.png) | Simpler chat-bubble bot outline with a larger `>_` face. | More readable, but still not ownable enough as a brand mark. |
| v4 | [`images/source/clisbot-avatar-v4-c-prompt-chat-mark.png`](images/source/clisbot-avatar-v4-c-prompt-chat-mark.png) | `C` prompt chat mark combining clisbot, CLI, and chat. | Strong concept, but felt more like an abstract logo than a social mascot. |
| v5 | [`images/source/clisbot-avatar-v5-meo-cli-agent-mark.png`](images/source/clisbot-avatar-v5-meo-cli-agent-mark.png) | Meo-CLI mascot mark: cat-bot/chat-bubble silhouette with terminal face. | Best memorability and viral potential, but still slightly illustrative / AI-generated on close inspection. |
| v6 | [`images/source/clisbot-avatar-v6-polished-meo-cli-mark.png`](images/source/clisbot-avatar-v6-polished-meo-cli-mark.png) | Cleaner, flatter, more symmetrical version of v5. | Current final: better professional polish while keeping mascot memory. |

## Live Proofs

These screenshots show the uploaded profile avatar on X after each replacement:

- [`images/live/x-profile-avatar-v2-live.png`](images/live/x-profile-avatar-v2-live.png)
- [`images/live/x-profile-avatar-v3-live.png`](images/live/x-profile-avatar-v3-live.png)
- [`images/live/x-profile-avatar-v4-live.png`](images/live/x-profile-avatar-v4-live.png)
- [`images/live/x-profile-avatar-v5-live.png`](images/live/x-profile-avatar-v5-live.png)
- [`images/live/x-profile-avatar-v6-live.png`](images/live/x-profile-avatar-v6-live.png)

## Prompt Notes

See [`prompts.md`](prompts.md) for the prompt briefs and critique notes used for each visual direction.

See [`image-descriptions.md`](image-descriptions.md) for descriptions of the actual saved image outputs.

The prompts in this folder are reconstructed from the working session notes and generated assets. They are meant to preserve the design intent and iteration logic for future regeneration, not to claim byte-for-byte reproducibility.
