Freelance Business Names

I came up with Citrus Studios after playing off a variety of fruits and other 'fresh' objects. Using 'Think Outside the Peel' as my slogan. Although there are a few other Citrus Studios, I like my name and image too much to simply give up because there is more than one. You' start to find that almost anything you think of is taken. Don't let that be a road block - you just have to design better then the existing ones!

Ron Gallagher
Citrus Studios

I picked afterglow as it was a name I was using a decade ago for college projects. When it came time to pick a name for the business it seemed like the natural thing to continue on with it.
Short, Relatively memorable and not too many connotations with the word.
The only slight downside is competing with dodgy Sarah McLachlan albums for ranking on Google. You could tie yourself in knots thinking of an incredibly trendy name but far more productive to get a name you're comfortable with and get down to work.
www.afterglow.ie

Jammin Designs, Well my knickname is Jammin (as in benjamin but double up the m and drop the ben ;) ) . And well I was 14 when I decided on my name and I thought Jammin Designs sounded cool.

I came up with my name as I love the animal Tiger and took the storm from Brainstorm.. That's the story behind my name..

Dunno if it is any good.. =)

I simply use my name. I do work freelance, although not hard core (since school takes up most of my time). But even if I would do it as a full time job, I'd stick with just the name, Hörður Lárusson.
For non-icelandic I use my last name, larusson, hence my site and stuff. :)

...and I use Pompo Multimedia

_P_o_m_p_o _M_u_l_t_i_m_e_d_i_a
http://www.pompo.com
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You will know fear...Then you will know pain.
Then you will use a Mac.

Hmmm, interesting.

So there's no like copyright issue (?) if you have a name which is being used by someone else already?

I don't have an artist name. I think I prefer to use my real name, like Hörður, but if I had one, I would choose a really short and descriptive name, like God, Boss or Ace. :) Jokes.

I recommend you make up name for yourself that reflects on your strength or build on something people already call you, like several members rightfully did. I think an unusual name is the best choice. You can make up something surreal, like "Brainray" (shining example of creativity). Or poetic, like "Chocoshop" (sweet designs for a delicate taste). Or weird like "7 miles to Disneyland" (fun designs from a fun guy).

But I think you already got the best name for you. It would be simply ".a" pronounced as "dot-a". It's memorable because it's unusually short. Nobody is called by just one punctuation mark and one letter. It's geek because sounds like .net, .mac or .com. It's also derivative from your name. It also somehow communicates superiority like A-team. Dot-a.com or dota.name are still available.

Sorry to bring this topic back to life again, but where do you guys stand on having a slogan?

I know some freelance designers don't have one, but quite a lot do. Would you recommend having one?

Well, I was trying to come up with a website name to promote my services doing primarily wedding invites (and other print work), birth announcements, invitations of all kinds, identity systems, web design.. etc... and then all the sudden one day my husband came in and wanted to register a domain name on his lunch break and the ever-shedding dog was there.. so we chose "Fuzzymutt.com". And, obviously I can't see this as a serious website for someone to come looking for bridal invitations... so I'm trying to think of a different name. It would be our last name but, no one could spell it.

Yeah, another question from me.

Is it important to have a website/porfolio when you first promote your freelance business? I ask this because it looks like this summer I will be printing out my business cards (providing the logo gets done by then) and I'm wondering whether I would need a website too?

I'm not that experienced with web design and don't have the time, money and skills to get a set up a site anytime soon.

Say I only have an email address and cell number on the business card, would it matter?

I picked Nautilus7 (I like nautili and seven is cool number). But honestly - lol - I was I hadn't.

Sometimes when I go through my website's logs to see where hits are coming from, I realized there are several scuba diving sites that link to my site, and my @nautilus7.com email address gets nailed with dive related stuff.

I didn't email the sites linking to me to tell them, because I figure hey - if they want to give me a few extra visits, that's cool by me!!

I'm thinking about chaning to something I have in mind which is much more uniqe and fits better. The only thing I worry about is if past clients would allow switching their footer links to the new name/site.

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Josh Stevens | Nautilus7 Design

No body laughs, but am I too enthuiastic? lolz

Ok, well I've decided to put off the whole freelance business thing for some time now. After all, I haven't even got my diploma in graphic design yet (a year left). I've decided, after the diploma I'll have time and enough experience hopefully to create a site and lauch my own freelance business no matter what scale. Maybe then, I can take it from there or leave it on the backburner and go on to my degree. Hopefully, after graduating with a degree in graphic design, I can get back to the freelance business properly.

Sorry for thinking out loud, but am I too eager to become this graphic designer I so want to be? 'Tis a good thing right?

In my honest opinion, I think if you are sooo eager - that is truly awesome.

Having a passionate drive to do something is not only what will make you get really good at it, but will keep you coming back and really enjoying the work you're doing.

I see so many people talk about their job's with absolute disgust, hating every minute they spend at work. But designers LOVE what they do, and when 'going to work' is fun and something you 'want' to do, life can't get much better than that!

(on another note: I wouldn't worry so much about a portfolio right now. Personally, I have not created one yet, and even without one I still get clients (which I am currently using to build a portfolio)).

I'm going to school too, and am 1/2 way done. Doing freelance work on the side is definitely fun, and the extra $$ is certainly welcome :-)

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Josh Stevens | Nautilus7 Design

That's healthy attitude. Try to become the best! Let your profession be your hobby and your life. You gonna enjoy it more than anything. You're off to a good start so just push it!