Houghton Mifflin Interactive

Background:
Houghton Mifflin Interactive was the video game division of Houghton Mifflin formed in 1995. It was eventually merged with Sunburst Communications' own interactive media division to create Sunburst Technology in 1999, after Houghton Mifflin bought the titular company.

Logo (1996-1999)
Visuals: On a black background, a dark red dot can be barely seen. A white oval eventually emerges from the darkness, zooming in and moving to the left before swerving back to the right and onto the dot, revealing it as sphere. The shadow of the sphere then disappears and the oval grows, where it seems to reveal some kind of block below the sphere. The block moves up and down as it moves past an archway, which moves to the left, and then through another archway. The camera then zooms out to reveal that the block is shaped like a human, forming a sort of "i", and the archways were actually the letters "hm" stretched upwards. As the camera zooms out, the "m" shrinks into a standard size and the "i" hops to the right, forming "hmi", as this finishes, the logo inverts colors and becomes 2D, with a dark red oval and white letters, and the oval also seems to brighten up. "Houghton" then appears in a Times New Roman font, followed by "Mifflin" below it, and then "interactive" in a completely different lowercase font.

Variant: The logo was designed by Open.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Either a cheery, saloon-like piano ditty, or a held violin note growing in volume over time with slight twinkles. It then plays a teleport-like sound, and then a series of twinkles with a rising synth note.

Availability: Can be seen on Inventor Labs, a few Curious George games, and The Day The World Broke.