Naming Resources

Submitted by stephanie on Mon, 2007-11-12 19:59.

Member's Forum

All right. /sigh I could really use some help.

As my amount of freelancing work increases, my business partner and I have discussed actually fleshing out a business and converting what now is my portfolio. It will start as just the two of us, but we'll be hiring some others down the road.

Just when things started seeming like they were falling into place, the subject of a name comes up. We decided that although Perfectly Lost could remain and work for my personal portfolio, it's not very professional sounding, and it can give off unwanted impressions on the business end.

We've mulled and mulled ideas for business names, but no avail. I'm not asking for you to come up with ideas for names, but rather asking if you happen to know some quality resources in which to develop business names (not identity design). Books or websites that maybe you've read or used.

I've been looking on the net for sites that offer advice on this, but to be quite honest, most of the ones I've run across are pretty much crap. They all say the same things, but I already know I want it to be simple, flexible, clear, and unique.

Thanks in advance. :)

Have you read this?

Submitted by Ivan on Tue, 2007-11-13 00:03.

Have you read this? http://creativebits.org/naming_a_company

I tried finding sources for

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2007-11-13 22:56.

I tried finding sources for baby names (daughter is almost a year old now) and in the end it really came down to what my wife and I liked best, and what meant the most for us.

You and your partner need to throw some spaghetti on the wall, so to speak, and brainstorm. What are your goals? What clientelle to you want? Speak to that audience with the name you choose.

Pentagram = classy name. (insert dog's name here) Creative = somewhat less classy. :)

I'd say save your money and put your heads together. After this project, everything else you guys take on is going to be easy! And before you set a name in stone, make sure it's not trademarked already and the url is available:

http://www.uspto.gov

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Powerpoint is not a design application

I hear ya.

Submitted by stephanie on Tue, 2007-11-13 23:48.

One of the main things I have been doing is checking domains - something we MUST have when starting this business. I've tossed out a lot of names because of the domain not being available.

Do you really think a one-worder is more classy than something that could go by one word but has the option of being more specific? ___ Designs, ___ Creative. . . clearly I'm not advanced in this area.

I admit, I'm much more creative on the visual end of things.

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Perfectly Lost Designs

Sorry, didn't mean to put

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2007-11-13 23:57.

Sorry, didn't mean to put down the use of the word Creative or Design in a biz name; just wanted to show levels of classiness. :)

This was the hardest thing I've ever done and I'm still not entirely sold on my biz name, flikWORLD Design. However, www.flickworld.com wasn't available. Darn it!

Design and Creative are pretty well overused, but they do serve their purpose.

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Powerpoint is not a design application

No worries at all, I'm not

Submitted by stephanie on Wed, 2007-11-14 07:49.

No worries at all, I'm not offended. :)

I will definitely try coming up with a name that can stand with or without a more descriptive word next to it like Designs or Creative.

Thanks so much for your replies, it's helping a lot.

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Perfectly Lost Designs

www.katiemoos.com She used

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2007-11-13 23:59.

www.katiemoos.com

She used her name, but I think her style is similar to yours...will your collaboration company be similar in style to your personal website?

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Powerpoint is not a design application

More gender neutral.

Submitted by stephanie on Wed, 2007-11-14 07:38.

I'm flattered to be compared to Katie in any way, her photography is gorgeous. Heh, thanks. :)

Although - this company will actually be aimed to be professional than my personal portfolio. (I'm not exactly very fond of my own site. XD) I'm thinking it will be more gender neutral, since it won't be stating that it is just female me.

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Perfectly Lost Designs

things not to rule out

Submitted by archmedia on Wed, 2007-11-14 01:04.

WORDS: designs, creative, studio, arts, graphics

DOMAINS: .com .us .net (the last two are becoming more seen as .com is being swallowed silly by everything already!) for example, archmedia.com was taken, when i was living in Canada i took up .CA and have since taken the .US name also.

CONCEPTS: being a coop style designer instead of a partnership. this means each runnings your own company name and sharing the work load and duties. This allows for you to easily part ways if need be, and maybe target two widely different clienteles in the future. It also allows you to bring in others in the future without feeling like you have to make them a partner. This also allows you to settle on one name and your "partner" to settle on his own name.

It seems the importance of the domain name these days has made us throw out some good names, or sometimes sadly take on a name we're not 100% sold on. Hence the broadening of the domains. Keep us posted.. :/ best of luck
____________________________________________
Architectural Technician - Multimedia Designer
www.ArchMedia.us

Thanks for your input,

Submitted by stephanie on Wed, 2007-11-14 07:47.

Thanks for your input, Archmedia, I really appreciate it.

I think that a co-op company is a very good idea in most cases, except there are some more details about my partnership. My business partner is the logical, number crunching half of the business - in which basically everything but the actual designing will be handled. He would have to hire another designer and I would have to learn some better business skills or hire another person for duties to be shared. We've worked before many times together (well, might I add) - and a small detail left out is that we're in a long-term relationship together, so parting ways doesn't exactly seem as likely as interest-sharing friends.

And the excitement continues. Huzzah.

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Perfectly Lost Designs

A little off topic but make

Submitted by natobasso on Wed, 2007-11-14 15:45.

A little off topic but make sure you and your biz partner have a fully detailed partnership contract stating each person's responsibilities and functions in the new company. That contract would also cover events such as how to dissolve the partnership or add new partners, etc.

I just had a friend lose a lot of money because he didn't do this. He's currently attempting litigation and I don't imagine he's going to get that money back; quite the contrary.

Anyway, a word to the wise. :)

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Powerpoint is not a design application