5 Tips to Help You Name Your Design Business

Tips to Name Your Design Business

• Stay True To Yourself
• Brainstorm
• Words Matter
• Think About Your Clients
• Check The Availability of Your Name Choice

Designers, are you looking for tips to help you name your business? If you are, you’re not alone. Many companies are going through rebranding and renaming efforts, according to Entrepreneur. This is evidenced by the preponderance of articles talking about renaming your company. So let’s take a look at five tips you can use to name your business.

Stay True To Yourself

One of the best tips you can receive for naming your business is to keep it true to who you are. As a designer, you have a style that is the hallmark of your work. Whether it’s big and bold or subtle and minimal, who you are and how you design has a lot to do with your business. So if you’re into minimalist design, why not try a name that speaks to that? If you’re big and bold, go with a big and bold name. There are no rules here, except to make sure the name matches your style. You are, after all, your business.

Brainstorm

A tip that can take some time but is always helpful is to brainstorm. Write down any ideas you have for names, words you’d like to incorporate into your business, colors, style descriptors; you want a nice long list to choose from. If you’re having trouble making a decision from your brainstorm list, try a few out on friends or colleagues; getting fresh eyes on your business name may help. Additionally, your friends and colleagues may offer insight into your business. Since they don’t own your business, they will be far likelier to tell you if your name doesn’t make sense or actually fits your business.

Words Matter

Bear with us on this one, because this tip might change your life: the words you use to name your business will change the way that people view you and your business. Think about it from a client’s perspective: would you rather work with an agency, a studio, or a consultancy group? Agency denotes a large pool of talent, which probably means a higher rate to go along with it. A studio sounds like a specialty business that works in one niche or another. A consultancy business works one-on-one with clients and collaborates. These words, which generally show up in design business names, are critical for your business. They shape the perception that it’s either you alone working with the client or you as the head of a multi-talented group of designers. Choose your words carefully.

Think About Your Clients

A common but critical tip is to think about your clients. Who are you trying to sell your services to? Is it a niche market, global corporations, or smaller businesses who need some design help? Your target audience is key in picking a name because as we’ve discussed above, you want to make sure that you showcase yourself as the answer to their problem. If you use “agency” in your business name but you want to work with small businesses or startups, you may find you won’t get a lot of traction; startups usually can’t afford agencies and they won’t bother checking your site for more information. Choose a name that is at the same level of your target audience for the best results.

Check The Availability of Your Name Choice

Before you proceed with giving your business its name, you’re going to want to check if it’s available. This means checking the trademark registry and doing an online search for the name. This check will ensure that you can legally use the name. If you don’t trademark the name, you may be subjected to a court order to change it later on, which could confuse your clients. Doing a search for the business name will also help in ensuring that potential clients can find you. If you find that your name isn’t being used, go ahead and trademark it for legal purposes. If it is trademarked, it’s time for you to go back to the drawing board.

Concluding Thoughts

It’s a lot of work to find a name that fits your design business, but it’s also important. Take your time when choosing your name. With these five tips to help you name your design business, you should be on the road to naming your business and getting more clients.

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