Win Penguins – A Wedding Invitation By Fail Whale Designer Yiying Lu


image by Yiying Lu

After proposing marriage via Twitter, San Francisco mobile entrepreneur Dale Larson and his fiancee, C Compiler doyenne Laura La Gassa, took their geek love one step further: When it came time to send out wedding invitations, they commissioned Yiying Lu, the designer of Twitter’s infamous “Fail Whale” to create an original illustration. Lu calls the result “Win Penguins”.

On bended knee, with ring in one hand, iPhone in the other, Dale asked and Laura accepted via Twitter. Hundreds of San Francisco geeks witnessed and cheered at Harry McCracken and Marie Domingo’s “Tech the Halls” party.

We asked our friend Yiying Lu, designer of Twitter’s “Fail Whale”, to create our wedding invitation. Told her we wanted the opposite of a Fail Whale. She calls her illustration “Win Penguins”. We love it, and we thank Yiying and all our friends for their love and support.


photo by Ken Yeung

Aaron Muszalski
Aaron Muszalski