diff --git a/pySDC/core/Controller.py b/pySDC/core/Controller.py
index c7025bd2ca..f61ed22375 100644
--- a/pySDC/core/Controller.py
+++ b/pySDC/core/Controller.py
@@ -99,6 +99,18 @@ def __setup_custom_logger(level=None, log_to_file=None, fname=None):
         else:
             pass
 
+    def welcome_message(self):
+        out = 'Welcome to the one and only, really very astonishing and 87.3% bug free' + \
+              '\n                                 _____ _____   _____ ' + \
+              '\n                                / ____|  __ \ / ____|' + \
+              '\n                    _ __  _   _| (___ | |  | | |     ' + \
+              '\n                   | \'_ \| | | |\___ \| |  | | |     ' + \
+              '\n                   | |_) | |_| |____) | |__| | |____ ' + \
+              '\n                   | .__/ \__, |_____/|_____/ \_____|' + \
+              '\n                   | |     __/ |                     ' + \
+              '\n                   |_|    |___/                      '
+        self.logger.info(out)
+
     def dump_setup(self, step, controller_params, description):
         """
         Helper function to dump the setup used for this controller
@@ -109,6 +121,7 @@ def dump_setup(self, step, controller_params, description):
             description (dict): description of the problem
         """
 
+        self.welcome_message()
         out = 'Setup overview (--> user-defined) -- BEGIN'
         self.logger.info(out)
         out = '----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n'
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9d4b8dbdff..3187086864 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ numpy>=1.15.4
 scipy>=0.17.1
 dill>=0.2.6
 # These packages are used in examples or for testing, they can be omitted if necessary
-matplotlib>=3.0
+matplotlib>=3.0,<=3.5.3
 numba>=0.35
 sympy>=1.0
 # These packages are required for some of the more involved examples (and data types etc.), can be omitted