What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, right? Maybe not so much on the Web, where our olfactory senses don’t do us much good.
When you name your startup zlignob, you’re playing a dangerous game. Some people try to compensate for the meaningless signifier they’ve chosen to represent their company with an evocative image to accompany the name, but many don’t manage to succeed at that either.
Now, I know all the good domains are taken but, really, words are supposed to convey meaning. It’s their job.
If you ask me, the most essential questions you should ask when you’re picking a name and logo are, first, do the word you picked and its accompanying image, alone or together, clearly state what you are about? And second, once a user learns what you are about and has context for your name and logo, are they memorable? (At the very least, the latter should be true.) You would think these things are no-brainers, but obviously a lot of people need to be reminded of them…
I grabbed some random logos off my reader not long ago, when I was in logo design hell myself (still there, but taking a breather). If you don’t already know these companies, do you have any idea what they do? (Or did, as the case may be. Some may be in, or heading for the dead pool.)
Playfish. A social gaming site for kids. If you know there is a card game called Fish (or Go Fish), this name is effective. Even if you don’t, the word play gives a hint that it might be about games (but it could be about music or video). I really can’t stand the Fisher-Price, baby-toy look of Web 2.0 sites and logos, but in this case it’s appropriate.
Yoono. Yet another aggregator. Obviously a phonetic spelling of you know, which is not bad for memorability—if you speak English. I could see how it might be the name of a site that lets you keep track of everybody you know, especially with the little humanoid image. But that’s a tenuous connection and doesn’t really encompass what the site does.
Snipd. For collecting and sharing bits of Web content. My first instinct was to pronounce this sniped. Why? Because the single ” p ” after the “ i ” indicates that it should be pronounced that way (gripped/griped, stripped/striped). The scissors pointed me in the right direction, as far as pronunciation goes, but they made me think of haircuts. (Online haircuts?) Without knowing what this site does, the name and image are a fail. But once you do know what it does, it’s easier to remember the name.
Spot Runner. A company involved with online advertising. Without knowing that, I would have no idea what this company is about. I did not instinctively make the leap to advertising, even though I know that spot is a synonym for ad and that one runs ads. (In fact, the dog probably hindered my making that connection.) If you do know those things, the name is memorable once you learn what they do. The logo is a little too playful and looks odd with the rest of the site. But the dog is so cute!
Akamai. Provides servers and services worldwide. Lucky for me, I lived in Hawaii for 5 years and knew the word and what it meant. And I know how to pronounce it. If I didn’t, it might be an uncomfortable word in my mouth, which is not a good thing in terms of usability. (Yes, usability. You don’t want to make your users work.) Its foreignness would also hinder memorability. Of course, the wave didn’t strike me as incongruous given that it was a Hawaiian word. But how many people know that? If you think real hard, I guess you can get from wave to surf and eventually end up at data centers… But the casual and cartoonish logo just doesn’t work with the corporate look and feel of the site, or with the magnitude and seriousness of what this company does. It would be more appropriate for a designer of board shorts.
My advice for choosing a name… Make the effort to find someone who works with words to brainstorm company names with you, or review and comment on your working list of names. Of course, startups don’t have the budgets to see how their names will work in other languages, so if your invented word is the worst insult in the Swahili language, that sucks for you. But these days, it would be nice if even those targeting the anglophone world could come up with something meaningful.
And when you go to tech events… As I walked around LeWeb 08, startup hunting and reading badges, I felt like I was looking at the character name reject list for The Fifth Element. If you must name your company something totally random, at least put a tagline or some keywords somewhere visible (on your badge, on a t-shirt, wear your own stickers, whatever) so the people whose attention you want to catch (investors, bloggers) can get an idea of what you do!
- A surprisingly great name for a web app: Say Hi to Doris, Your Task Management Assistant
- Enough with the bubbles already: Mr. Bubble Leaves His Mark on Web Design
Filed under: language, tech events , logos, startuppity, tips, words
