(Above) In the world of my multimedia novel, no company plays a more prominent -- or pernicious -- role than Universal Software, which can best be described as "Microsoft refracted through a lens of the Hubble Space Telescope." Willard Gatz, the co-founder of Universal Software, has long been fascinated by astronomy, and this interest has colored both the marketing strategies and the ultimate aims of his corporation. Gatz sees Universal Software as the literal center of an expanding software universe -- a universe governed by a single set of immutable laws (namely, his own). The competition, on the other hand, views Universal Software as a nefarious "black hole," gobbling up market share whilst sucking the life out of its rivals. The events in the novel play out against the backdrop of the epic struggle for control of the Internet: Gatz's desire to "put the 'space' in cyberspace," versus the more democratic approach championed by his opponents.

At this point, the process of developing a "look" for this mythical monopoly is still ongoing: I've yet to settle on either an official logo or to construct a draft of the Universal Software site. Still, I think most would agree that my attempts thus far have netted some interesting results -- results which are illustrative of my approach to both logo design and product packaging in general.

With that background in mind, I here present samples of the logo work and packaging design I've done on behalf of this non-existent software giant. All rights reserved -- and studiously protected -- by Willard Gatz.