Many of our clients wonder about our logo and its origin story. In this post Roompact’s CEO and Founder, Matt Unger, provides some background on how it came to be.
After deciding on Roompact’s name, choosing a logo was the natural next step. One of the questions I get asked the most in regards to the origins of Roompact is: “What is your logo?” I’ve heard of people wondering if it’s a dog, a cat, a fox, or…underwear with ears. Well, it’s a wolf. Why did we pick a wolf mascot? There were a few reasons.
One, I attended a talk from tech founder Alexis Ohanian, and he suggested using a “cute mascot” for any company you create. His suggestion resonated with me. I think it’s easier for both a company and their clients to hold affinity for a brand with a mascot.
Two, Our clients are all Higher Education institutions. All of them have some sort of a mascot with a personality, and most of them are animals. I thought it would only be natural for Roompact to have its own animal mascot.
And finally, but most interestingly, just before I worked with a designer on the Roompact logo, I watched a documentary called “Surviving Alone in Alaska.” (Warning: This video has occasional inappropriate language and is not for the faint of heart, especially if you have hesitations about watching people hunt and forage in the wild.) The documentary follows a couple — the only two people who are full-time residents of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The United States government now forbids people from living in this remote wilderness, but these two were “grandfathered in” because they had already been living there when the practice became illegal. The couple has a few cabins in the area that they rotate between to prevent the resources in any one area from depleting. They truly live “off of the land,” except when they have Moose Tacos for dinner. (The taco shells are store-bought.)
Other than the obvious weather-related danger of living in an arctic tundra with temperatures far below freezing, their biggest risk comes from bear attacks. The couple has a dog (which looks very much like a wolf) that lives outside of their cabin. Whenever a bear comes near the cabin, the dog starts barking. The documentarians call the dog a “bear alarm.” Sure enough, during filming a bear comes around, the dog alerts the humans of the approaching danger, and the humans are able to make it through the ordeal safely because of the early alert.
Roompact reminds me of that wolf-like dog. Roommates encounter a variety of issues (hopefully none of which are bear attacks), and one of our major goals is to help students work through and learn from these issues. An important aspect of managing roommate issues is early detection. The earlier you address conflict, the easier it is to resolve. Roompact is a tool that, when used by students and staff, acts as a “roommate conflict alarm” to alert staff of conflict potential as early as possible.
