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The difference in a name

Fred Oliveira on March 3, 2006

Naming products Seth Godin has a great post about how “global warming” doesn’t worry us because everything in that name reminds us of good things (warm, global), and goes on to say how we’d be paying a lot more attention if the phenomenon was called “Atmosphere cancer” or “Pollution death”.

A name is, by far, one of the most important things in any brand - and specifically in web applications or online identities. Your name is usually your first point of contact. A name automatically generates an image in the viewer’s mind about a product or activity. It automatically defines it for you - good or bad, it’s a first impression and you know those count.

Don’t follow trends in naming your products. Repeating vowels because Google did it means becoming generic, and your point is to stand out from the crowd. There’s a huge difference in a name - trust me when I say this, people ask the funniest things about our name being “Webreakstuff”. Remember this when building the next “Froobloogle”.

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Daniel

Don’t forget the power of a brand / company relationship. Yes, a name says a lot. But absent an intentially inflamatory name (such as “Atmosphere Cance” or “WeBreakStuff”) the power behind the name comes from the brand. And the brand is a result of the relationship the company (or entity) has had with the consumers (or customers / audience) over a period of time. Why is “Apple” a good name for a consumer electronics company? Its not. But the relationship that company has had with its customer has made the word “Apple” synonomous with “hip”, “quality” etc.

You’re right - Don’t copy somone elses name. Because then you have to compete with them for the relationship. You’re better off making up a completely new word and DOING things to make your audience love you.

Emmet

Shouldn’t that be “Frooblooglr”?

Mo

and Seth named his project Squidoo. :rolleyes:

Fred

Ah yes, Mo, good point. Well, nobody’s perfect after all, but truth be told he nailed it with the global warming naming comment.

Daniel, great input.

TEH

Interesting that Seth is taking the credit for this statement. There were many discussions at TED about this, speakers and bloggers who reported on this ‘misnomer’ of late. And…I think I heard the same assertion years ago, uttered by Peter Gabriel or Bono or someone on MTV. I can’t remember. Either way…it is interesting that Seth continues to take credit for ideas that are not his own. In fact, it may become another best seller for him. ;)

mynimal

Haha, it’s very true. Whenever I’m walking to my bus stop in the morning (I don’t wear a coat) I’m thinking “Goddamnit, I can’t wait until global warming starts.”

Andrei B

Fred,

can you tell me what fonts are used for the Web 2.0 Workgroup logo? I see several slight variations, that’s why I say fonts. Even if it’s one font, it’s simplicity really stands out to me. I love it.

Thanks !

farlane

A guy named George Lakoff wrote a book called “Don’t Think of an Elephant!”. The book was basically about how to frame issues in a way that makes people likely to do what you want.

“Framing is about getting language that fits your worldview. It is not just language. The ideas are primary — and the language carries those ideas, evokes those ideas. There was another good example in the State of the Union address in January. This one was a remarkable metaphor to find in a State of the Union address. Bush said, “We do not need a permission slip to defend America.” What is going on with a permission slip? He could have just said, “We won’t ask permission.” But talking about a permission slip is different. Think about when you last needed a permission slip. Think about who has to ask for a permission slip. Think about who is being asked. Think about the relationship between them.”

Excerpt from the book at AlterNet

Egor

@ Andrei B: Lucida Grande (or one of the Lucida flavours anyway)

Fred

Egor: Actually, it’s Hiragino Maru Gothic Pro, and it should be installed by default on most OSX systems out there. Sorry about missing the first comment with the question.

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