Tattoo Management Studio is now REV23 Desktop

Today, along with our brand new website, we're also excited to announce the re-launch of our flagship product, Tattoo Management Studio, with a brand new name.

Naming things, as it turns out, is hard. Tattoo Management Studio 1.0 was released exactly seven years ago today. At the time I had no idea the impact it would go on to have in this industry. I dreamed it would do great things, but it would have been hard to convince me that some of the biggest names in the industry, including some of my favorite artists, would end up relying on something I built to run their business. Had I known, I probably would have have put some more thought into how I named things.

You see, REV23 was a local band I was the lead guitarist in about 16 years ago in my late teens to twenties. We had another name but when we realized that it was taken in another state we were planning on playing in, we quickly changed it to REV23 (alternating with Revelation 23 for a brief time.) And, as most bands do, we eventually broke up. I was the one that came up with the name and I still owned the rev23.com domain name and was getting into some software projects that I was releasing to the world. I needed somewhere to upload them, so I slapped the word "Development" on it, and REV23 Development was born.

When I released Tattoo Management Studio 1.0 in 2010, I just kept using the name REV23 Development. I didn't think many people would pay much attention to that part. I completely expected "Tattoo Management Studio" to receive all of the name recognition. I was wrong. Over the years, the majority of people refer to our software simply as REV23, or some incorrect combination of the words tattoo, management, studio and software. In fairness, that name doesn't really roll off the tongue. So, confusing marketing on my part in the early days basically created two names, causing even more confusion.

In a way, I've been trying to run from the REV23 name. I was hoping to eventually phase it out, and it's taken me this long to realize it's time to embrace it. The name REV23, whether you use our software and services or not, has become synonymous with tattoo and body piercing studio management. This was by accident, but now I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Tattoo Management Studio, along with being a mouthful, is a misnomer. The software was also obviously designed to work seamlessly with body piercing and we have many users that only body piercing only businesses.

Finally, looking to REV23's future, the name Tattoo Management Studio just wasn’t streamlined as I’d like. While I can't give any details on the road ahead quite yet, we needed a name that would better describe the software's role and purpose in our upcoming plans. Something that identified its place in the REV23 ecosystem. So today, I'm pleased to announce the release of the newly rebranded Tattoo Management Studio as REV23 Desktop. We’re also making a giant leap in version numbering from 3.2 to 17.1. This both reflects the enormity of the change in branding as well as a new way that REV23 Desktop is versioned. It's quite simple really, 17 represents the year 2017 and the 1 represents the first major release of that year. So we'll see 2017.2 later in 2017, maybe a 2017.3, then move on to 18.1 in 2018... you get the idea.

The word Desktop refers to the Microsoft Windows desktop environment that it runs on. This distinction was necessary for our upcoming plans which we'll share more about when the time is right.

It’s bittersweet for me to say goodbye to the Tattoo Management Studio name. While I knew the name change was coming for a while, over the last few months while the branding really started to take shape and the logos were finalized and the text in the software was changed, it was actually a bit emotional for me and I think had me a little down on some days. Even though it was released to the public in March 2010, work on it actually began three years earlier in April of 2007. For my wife, daughter and myself, it’s like another member of the family. In our lives, Tattoo Management Studio is very much a living, breathing organism that has taken us on an amazing journey for nearly a decade. We’ve met some of the coolest people, been tattooed by incredible artists that we otherwise may not have had the opportunity to, and have made lifelong friends. However, I’m excited to get a fresh start, a new perspective and move on to some awesome new things with REV23.

I hope you like the new name and branding. Make no mistake, even though the word “tattoo” is no longer in our product name, REV23 continues to be software and services exclusive to the tattoo and body piercing industry. As I said before, REV23 is already synonomous with the tattoo and body piercing industry, and this change will only strengthen that resolve.

Interesting fact for those who haven't been around since the beginning, this is actually the fourth name change! Though it is certainly the largest. In the early days I had planed a Pro version after the release of what was then called "Express". Eventually it just grew into this full product and that plan no longer made any sense. But as you can see, I've never been great at succinct naming. This ends today!

2007: Tattoo Management Studio Express (v1.0)
2010: Tattoo Management Studio Express Edition (v1.2)
2012: Tattoo Management Studio (v2.0)
2017: REV23 Desktop (v17.1)

What do you think of the new name? Let us know in the comments!