Alt-coder hot seller Head First Design Patterns is notable for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it’s a great, super accessible, upbeat discussion of design patterns that is about as close to ‘fun’ is you are likely to find in a tech book. (Boodhoo, Gray, and others in the know all agree.) While that fact alone makes this title stand out, more immediately notable off the shelf is the brassy, semi in-your-face, pop-punky, top down perspective stock photography riot grrrl chick on the book’s cover.
In a tech book world populated by drab blue and white, or ‘dare to be different’ uninspired red and white covers, this nameless Gwen-Stefani-inspired glossy shot stands out in much the same way that the occasional “nerds rogue gallery actual author’s mugshots” cover theme doesn’t. (See wrox et al.) 
One wonders why is it that O’Reilly’s Head First is the only imprint with a nod to marketing in their design? Is the stereotype of the fashionless, sexless, non-metrosexual programmer so ingrained in popular culture that even old fashioned Madison Avenue 1950’s Marketing 101 doesn’t apply? In a still predominantly male field with a sea of book titles, here we have the single tome of import that has bothered to bring sexy back.
“Gwen” has been mentioned on other blogs inasmuch as she has been supposedly sighted time to time in clip art form promoting several other products. Many of the claimed sightings have been transient marketing campaigns that are “impossible to still link to” and have been written off as possibly apocryphal if not just pure BS.
With this in mind, you can imagine my surprise then when I happened upon this advertisement while on vacation with the in-laws last week in Cape Cod.
Yes indeed pattern and practice fanboys, it’s unquestionably her. You’ll note the necklace only alluded to in HFDP, the dangerous hair, stealthy kung fu pants, semi-threatening smile, etc. There is No Doubt it’s her. Oh yeah, I just said that.
This time Gwen is quite fittingly extolling the virtues of temporary tattoos, and has the aggressive confidence to do so from a slightly more head-on angle. Booyah.
In summation, Head On Design Patterns is a great book, but most everyone knows that. The inside skinny revealed here first at mikeduncan.com though, is that if you want to represent when dropping some pattern bombs around the office your cred goes way up when sporting a fierce Singleton or Factory tattoo on your mouse-wrangling bicep, revealed when your sleeve gets rolled up as a matter of course when taking over to drive your co-workers machine. If you want A-list status and your office is more casual attire, consider a tight tribal Proxy neck tat climbing out of your Dropkick Murphys teeshirt. For sure it takes some cajones to “own it”, but this falls into the ‘wimps need not apply’ category of best practices.
DISCLAIMER: Singleton / Factory tattoo washes off under normal usage in 10-14 days.
