United Learning

1st Logo (Early 1980s-Late 1990s) United Learning (1994)

Nickname: "The Flying Boxes"

Logo: On a black background, we see white outlined boxes (without a picture) flying from the bottom right to the middle left of the screen. As the boxes come together, a picture of flowers (composed of orange squares with black outlining) and a flash appear at the outlining. The text "UNITED LEARNING" appears next to the box. The text then "shines" left to right (a la theTouchstone Pictures logo).

Closing Variant: A closing logo was used at the end of most tapes with the animation reversed.

FX/SFX: Typical early '80s animation.

Music/Sounds: A synthesizer electronic jingle with 4 long low-notes in the background, with two series of 3 electronic beeps (although most tapes abridge it to one series) during the first 2 low-notes, and 8 more electronic beeps during the last 2 low-notes. The closing version used a different synthesizer electronic jingle.

Availability: Seen on tapes from the period, such as The Underground Railroad: The Escape from Slavery. Can also be found on assorted videos on the Discovery Education website--in fact, the website was even originally called "United Streaming", prior to Discovery Communications buying it and renaming it to its current name.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (Late 1990s-Early 2000s)

United Learning (199?) Logo: On a background featuring three swirling beams of light, three interlocking circles move onto the screen, and towards the left. A blue square appears, encasing the interlocking circles while the text "united learning" and "YOUR EDUCATIONAL PARTNER FOR A CHANGING WORLD" fades in towards the right. Two URLs fade in below.

FX/SFX: The circles and the text appearing, along with the background. A step up from the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: A synth-flute theme with percussion that loops several times, with synthesized horns as the URLs appear,.

Availability: Like before, seen primarily on tapes from the period. More commonly can be found on Discovery Education.

Editor's Note: None.

Altschul Group Corporation/United Learning (Late 1990s)

AGC/United Learning (199?) Logo: On a black background, we see 3 odd shapes with videoclips of United Learning programs in them. The shapes turn upward and zoom out, revealing that they are a blue "AGC" against a squiggly-lined dark blue background. Then, a broken oval places itself around the letters, with "ALTSCHUL GROUP CORPORATION" at the top, and "UNITED LEARNING" at the bottom, also in blue.

FX/SFX: The live action clips, the logo and circle placing itself into view. Okay CGI for the time.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized theme with horns and sparkles.

Availability: Due to its short lifespan, it's pretty rare. Used on all tapes from the period. Can also be found on Discovery Education.

Editor's Note: None.