Naming: What do we call ourselves?

We know what we’re about, but what do we call ourselves? A common enough problem.

Here’s how we went about it:

First we asked ourselves a few honest questions up front about who we are, what we do and why people would want to come to us rather than any of our competitors. Our name had to reflect our black and white approach to life, and be descriptive but still personable – oh and ideally three short words (because things always look better in threes and there are three founding partners).Then we developed a simple checklist to judge our prospective names against. We did this up front so that in the grip of creative fever we wouldn't become overly attached to a name that wasn't right for us - like Brandmazing - good as it might sound.

So, in no particular order, here's our naming checklist:

Our name must:

• Not be obscure. No Egg, Goldfish or Apple for us - it shouldn’t need explaining
• Mustn't sound pretentious. We're not The Brand People, The Brand Onion, or even The Brand Bunion
• Ideally nod to our collaborative approach
• Convey a sense of honesty and straightforwardness
• Not contain our surnames- it's not all about us
• Have simple SEO built in
• Be a grower - better second time around
• Sound good when we answer the phone

So, Our Design Agency it is. That simple.