Starting from scratch
While prototyping, there is no need for real coding at first. You just put up some nice mock-up based on wireframes and you’re done. It’s the least amount of work to make a functional concept, to prove your point and get your idea from paper to test.
Still, you need a name and you start giving thoughts on how to call yourself.
That´s the phase one of a long process.
Check the meanings
I usually like going from lists of ideas and try to combine concepts. For that you need your mind to flow and not being stopped by critical thoughts. On the other hand, it is good to be able to push your creativity with a structured process. So to find our name, we started by listing all the topics that were related to our activity, vision and value proposal.
ex: Desk, coworking, space, meeting, freelance, work, time, schedule, etc.
Iterations
Then you iterate, you repeat, you expand, you connect. You try to find something meaningful, that rings a bell, inspire and is simple enough to stick in the mind. Easy.
Add the fact that the domain should be available and you get into a lot of trouble. It’s amazing how much names have been registered. Seriously.
Some tools we have used for the process and that I recommend using if you have to come up with something similar:
– Google Trad: It’s easy, you can just plug any english word into some weird language and sometimes you get lucky enough. (we were not)
– Domain Name generators: you put some words (usually 2 or 3) and add some options for fancy beginning or ending (-ify, -er). Repeat to the infinite.
– Mindmapping. It’s manual, it’s fun and you sometimes get some weird association worth exploring. No results guaranteed.
The Magic connection
Sometimes you just have to let it sinks. After our second 3 hours session we were not getting anywhere and were a bit frustrated. We hd names, MEH ones, OK ones, but nothing impacting.
So we stopped, and decided it was best to reboot another session the week after. After all it was friday, 7pm and we had already a long week of work behind us. Here comes the night. A good night sleep over a lot of words and the brain do the magic by itself.
By 7am the next morning I was up and happy. I had the name. It was all clear. We had been toying with combination all day long but did not see it in plain sight. We wanted to help people find the perfect Desk for them. And we wanted them to be able to it everyday.
Day. Desk. Daysk.
Then comes the stressful moment. Check online. Domain free. Nobody registered the domain. Gosh! In these early stages of build a new project, every little sign like that is an immense joy. We had it.
Daysk it was.
(follow-up on Part 2 to read about our logo design)
