Should MOTU bring back the Unicorn logo? (poll fixed)

[blue]

You voted, right?

Indeed. I only wish I could do it more than once!

Part of what I like about the Unicorn logo is it's refreshingly un-corporate. Personally I think it looks pretty cool in muted grey.

The grey does help. And you're right, the Unicorn is not corporate. But, there's plenty of middle ground between corporate and unicorns.

Personally, I like a logo that's clean, understated and timeless. Something that's not going to embarrass you 5 years from now, like the aforementioned dolphin shorts. That's just me, though. I come from a family of graphic designers. Lots of negative space, if you get my meaning.

[arth]

You know, if something sounded good and was priced right, nobody'd care what the hell it looked like.

If that was the case, guitar manufacturers would stop producing the flashy axes and concentrate on sound only. And the ugly Quad electrostatic "space heaters" would have sold much more.

Admit it, people, you do buy instruments and equipment not only because of the sound, but want something that fits your image too. Because both you and the audience (whether it's a "real" audience or just your friends) do care what the hell it looks like.

[Shooshie]

I have to say, that looks great.

All I have to do is look up at my rack (mine's above my desk, rather than under it) and immediately the Unicorn logos leap out at me. I like them. The other boxes with the "clean" look are somehow emasculated. They just don't look as impressive. Personally, I think MOTU needs to put it back.

2009 will mark 25 years of MOTU products for the Mac, and I think the Unicorn needs to be there just as proof that the company is as strong as ever. It has survived the purges, takeovers, buyouts, OS evolutions, CPU evolutions, and all the fads of the music industry. It's survived the change from hardware to software synths (heck, it's part of the REASON for that), and it's one of the reasons that MIDI is even still around. For better or worse, competing control protocols have faded away, largely because MIDI is so deeply entrenched, thanks in part to sequencers and devices like those made by MOTU. We were recording Digital Audio not long after the first CDs went on the market. Digital was supposedly so complicated that it would never filter down to consumer studios, but MOTU has helped lead that charge, right into our gear racks, starting with the 2408. For a mere $25,000 you could have a few tracks of Pro Tools back in the early 1990's, but then MOTU stunned the industry by offering 24 tracks of digital audio for just a few thousand, or 8 tracks for under a thousand. (actually, if you include all the possible ways of connecting to a 2408, it came to something like 144 tracks of audio, in and out. Totally unexpected, MOTU threw a left curve to a right-handed industry.)

Bring back that Unicorn as a show of pride. No need to wait for 2009. Twenty three years is enough.

Shooshie

[James Steele]

You know, if something sounded good and was priced right, nobody'd care what the hell it looked like.

If that was the case, guitar manufacturers would stop producing the flashy axes and concentrate on sound only. And the ugly Quad electrostatic "space heaters" would have sold much more.

Admit it, people, you do buy instruments and equipment not only because of the sound, but want something that fits your image too. Because both you and the audience (whether it's a "real" audience or just your friends) do care what the hell it looks like.

Yeah, but we're talking about a logo here, not the whole unit and I was talking about recording gear in environment where there's not much of an audience and your "image" isn't really on the line in the same way. Not quite the same as guitars. Although, one may play anything in a studio as opposed to on stage.

[blue]

You know, if something sounded good and was priced right, nobody'd care what the hell it looked like.

If that was the case, guitar manufacturers would stop producing the flashy axes and concentrate on sound only. And the ugly Quad electrostatic "space heaters" would have sold much more.

Admit it, people, you do buy instruments and equipment not only because of the sound, but want something that fits your image too. Because both you and the audience (whether it's a "real" audience or just your friends) do care what the hell it looks like.

Yeah, but we're talking about a logo here, not the whole unit and I was talking about recording gear in environment where there's not much of an audience and your "image" isn't really on the line in the same way. Not quite the same as guitars. Although, one may play anything in a studio as opposed to on stage.

But he does bring up a good point. We do sort of identify with the stuff we buy. There's obviously something about the unicorn logo you dig. It sets off MOTU from the rest of the players, gives them a mark that's different. Say, unicorn-like.

It's not that we're easy marks for marketing pushers. It's really more about aesthetics. At least, I hope it is.

[twistedtom]

Yes.

[monkey man]

I have to say, that looks great.

Agreed. I like the blue too.
The grey looks more expensive, but the blue says, "I'm the maverick value option."

All I have to do is look up at my rack (mine's above my desk, rather than under it) and immediately the Unicorn logos leap out at me. I like them. The other boxes with the "clean" look are somehow emasculated. They just don't look as impressive. Personally, I think MOTU needs to put it back.

Same here.
On a subconscious level the logos reinforce a team feeling, one of being part of a family; they're somehow reasurring, at least for me.

2009 will mark 25 years of MOTU products for the Mac, and I think the Unicorn needs to be there just as proof that the company is as strong as ever. It has survived the purges, takeovers, buyouts, OS evolutions, CPU evolutions, and all the fads of the music industry. It's survived the change from hardware to software synths (heck, it's part of the REASON for that), and it's one of the reasons that MIDI is even still around. For better or worse, competing control protocols have faded away, largely because MIDI is so deeply entrenched, thanks in part to sequencers and devices like those made by MOTU. We were recording Digital Audio not long after the first CDs went on the market. Digital was supposedly so complicated that it would never filter down to consumer studios, but MOTU has helped lead that charge, right into our gear racks, starting with the 2408. For a mere $25,000 you could have a few tracks of Pro Tools back in the early 1990's, but then MOTU stunned the industry by offering 24 tracks of digital audio for just a few thousand, or 8 tracks for under a thousand. (actually, if you include all the possible ways of connecting to a 2408, it came to something like 144 tracks of audio, in and out. Totally unexpected, MOTU threw a left curve to a right-handed industry.)

Nothing like a bit of context, especially for those who've ignored recent history.

Bring back that Unicorn as a show of pride. No need to wait for 2009. Twenty three years is enough.
Shooshie

Hear, hear.

I wouldn't discount Unicorns as being merely mythological.

I know of at least one hobbit who wouldn't disagree with you!!

I know of at least one monkey who only knows one hobbit who wouldn't disagree with him. Yay!
Thank you for helping me look like less of an ass, Frobro.

For that matter, my AVATAR image is available for licensing. It has unicorn as well as a double-breatsed matress thrasher.

Gorilla, you're an animal.
It might be breast to stay abreast of this obsbreastion, Magilla.
Try thinking about Unicorns; it's helped keep me celibate for at least 13 years.

Sorry, ladies; I'm not the ape with the obsbreastion, er, problem.

[James Steele]

Well, I realize this thread is a tempest in a teapot. It really is no big deal. I sort of like the look with the unicorn so long as it's a more muted color. Maybe MOTU can take a page out of the Jack In The Box playbook in a few years and do a "The Unicorn Is Back" campaign... LOL. Remember when JITB shed the clown and tried to distance itself from its roots? They lost their identity. Later on-- rather than run from their origins-- they hired a great ad agency who stared doing those wonderful commercials with "Jack" as the president of the company and their sales are setting a record right now.

Rather than run away from the unicorn, it might be worthwhile for MOTU to perhaps embrace AND IMPROVE upon these origins. Perhaps spend some bucks and design a new logo that's more modern. Every other platform seems to have a techie name and want to project big, bad, and important. Didigdesign PRO TOOLS, Steinberg CUBASE, Apple LOGIC... I dunno... is it so bad having a creative, artistic right-brained tool that has a creative, artistic right-brained image associated with it in a sea of left-brain "techno-science" branding? Just thinking aloud and wasting my time here. If you've read to the bottom of this, I've wasted yours too! LOL Sorry!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Hey James, the nice thing about being full times musicians is that we actually have time to do stuff like this. Fortunately, no one has jumped in and mentioned that if MOTU had the time to spend on their logo, shouldn't they have time to update MachFive? Of fix a few more bugs in DP?

Of course, those are not 'time" issues as much as they are personnel matters. And finding a good graphics designer is easier than finding a software engineer who can move a product forward to the satisfaction of the user base.

So in the absence of hard core discussions about the real issues, we can talk horses' heads. might even lead to a discussion of The Godfather!

[James Steele]

...the nice thing about being full times musicians is that we actually have time to do stuff like this.

LOL... but the bad thing is I don't. I'm procrastinating firing up the studio and trying to cut a guitar solo that is particularly vexing for me. I'm trying to play something that quite honestly is a bit over my head, however, I'm getting better.

"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice. Practice. Practice."

[MIDI Life Crisis]

... I'm trying to play something that quite honestly is a bit over my head...

And that is EXACTLY how one can become truly a great player! Kudos to you, James! For me, the bugaboo has always been sight-reading. I can play most anything I have tried to, but I want to do it cold like the A-list musicians do. Similar to you, I am getting closer and I am close enough that I can "die happy" that my efforts have borne fruit. But it can always be better and that usually leads to something else, often an unexpected result.

Procastinating (for my at any rate) is a matter of letting things cook a bit. Creates a bit of pressure that often explodes into a frenzy of creativity. So don't think putting things off is always a bad idea. Ask any lawyer!

I'm sure you will lick that lick!

[markwayne]

I like this look a lot. Now, if you just change the text on the right side of the boxes to the same grey with a MOTU blue line, you get my vote over the bland panels.

Wayne

[monkey man]

Procastinating (for my at any rate) is a matter of letting things cook a bit. Creates a bit of pressure that often explodes into a frenzy of creativity. So don't think putting things off is always a bad idea. Ask any lawyer!

LOL! This resonated with me, Mike.
Let's hope the principle still works in extreme cases, like, ooh, I don't know... 25 years.

I like this look a lot. Now, if you just change the text on the right side of the boxes to the same grey with a MOTU blue line, you get my vote over the bland panels.
Wayne

Tasteful suggestion Wayne; you've got class, at least by monkey standards.

[monkey man]

Doh!
The ol' double-postin' board slow-mo' syndrome strikes again.

Sorry, 'Cornies; there's nothing to see here.
Move on! Move on!