Woo! We're changing our name!
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- marychain0
Anything but Internet Essentials agreed
but there must be something stronger than Universal Mode....I agrre with the boss....that's too abstract...means nothing
- mia_free0
how about universal essentials you mooks
- uberdesigner0
universal mode is okay. there are plenty of shops with nonsensical names. north kingdom, group 94...2a
- ukit0
- Gucci0
I don't mind universal mode.
I don't really think you have to be 100% literal with a name or what your service offering is. I'm assuming you don't get 80% of your business from the yellow pages. People contact you because they already know what you guys do, right?That being said, I think if you have a solid rationale for the name (which I have yet to see) - universal mode is a decent name and 'feels' right if that makes any sense.
I'd tend to not want to shorten it to umode externally though.
- kushman0
Well I guess the rationale is this:
1. The boss hates names like 'Fat Tuna Design' whereas me (designer) and the other guy (programmer) quite like non corporate names.
2. The boss is very business to business orientated. Attends networking meetings and traditionally finds much of our work from them.
3. The kind of work we're getting is very 'low end' and we want better work and know we can do it well. (Much of the time we spent on our current client base is completely lost on them. Eg. Ajax/design with grids/typography/etc)
4. 2009 is going to be a big year where we're all going to get out the and market the company. And frankly, I cant market Internet Essentials.
5. Universal Mode to me sounds like a quality name that's not 'faddy'. The idea is it will lend itself to the corporate bods my boss like to meet and the cool kids the rest of us will be trying to impress.
Sorry for the long answer!!
Make sense?
- magnificent_ruin0
what's wrong with caps? did I miss the memo?
- max_prophet0
Personally I don't really like the name, it doesn't roll off the tongue and I imagine you'll get fed up answering the phones with that, unless you are going to take lead from your logo and say "UM" when you pick up. That's what you logo say currently, UM, or MU, and it';s completely disjointed from the word. I'd lose the mark or completely redraw it into something that communicates something, and make it work with the name so there is a link and some sense.
The name just makes me think of Universal Everything, so it sounds copied and derivitive, except that it has no grandeur or humour, it just sounds... a bit pretentious.
With the cards I find there is no heirarchical sense between the company name and your name, and you're using the same typeface so any impact the company name has is diluted. I would have a typeface for the wordmark and a secondary complimentary typeface for the details.
'web design and marketing' is demoted to the same status as the address and phone etc, and again, away from the company name. It also sounds dull and unimaginitive, why can't you say web design and marketing in another way, and make it more of a strapline that will add personality to your brand, and tie it in with your name.
The mobile number has no formatting just one annoyingly long hard to use number.
all in all, just a bit dull and small time looking, despite the big UNIVERSAL name.
- why choose a name, and immediately have to shorten it? It just seems ridiculous.max_prophet
- +1 as usualkelpie
- kushman0
Thanks for the feedback Max_prophet. While I don't agree with everything you've said, you have got some good points that have made me think.
Made me think that Universal Mode is maybe not the name for us after all?
Here's a new idea then - My boss is called Martin WOOD. A
How about we call ourself WOODS?
It's simple, less pretentious and the letters don't look too bad together either?
- fodcj0
I like No 1. Looks like a heart!
- mistermik0
I love how your giving out all these details of your boss.
GOT WOOD, WOODED UP, HARD ON, etc
- kelpie0
Well I guess the rationale is this:
1. The boss hates names like 'Fat Tuna Design' whereas me (designer) and the other guy (programmer) quite like non corporate names.
*
yeah, I think Fat Tuna or whatever would be a mistake if he has to take that into the kind of rooms he does. It can be less Skatecore and still leave enough room around it to mean many things though.2. The boss is very business to business orientated. Attends networking meetings and traditionally finds much of our work from them.
*aye, see above.
3. The kind of work we're getting is very 'low end' and we want better work and know we can do it well. (Much of the time we spent on our current client base is completely lost on them. Eg. Ajax/design with grids/typography/etc)
*I think you get the work you align yourself to. Internet Essentials to me comes from a time BEFORE the net was essential. Your pitching as a meek service provider rather than a company which exists in a vital position where your clients WANT to be. The intertubes aren't some new crazy thing anymore, the web dezigners aren't snowboarding, they're making people money.
4. 2009 is going to be a big year where we're all going to get out the and market the company. And frankly, I cant market Internet Essentials.
*yeah, me neither. What are internet essentials? kind of suggests loads of it is INessential eh?
5. Universal Mode to me sounds like a quality name that's not 'faddy'. The idea is it will lend itself to the corporate bods my boss like to meet and the cool kids the rest of us will be trying to impress.
*not sure here, I think it does sound a bit faddy, but its definitely better.
Sorry for the long answer!!
*not at all, its a wee bit important, your name, you should have a lot to back it up
Make sense?
*aye, more or less :)
- the end of your post has no words in commonmistermik
- haha, whit do you mean?kelpie
- its gobblegook haha - or maybe i just can't read it.mistermik
- which bit?kelpie
- *not sure here, I think it does sound a bit faddy, but its definitely better.
Sorry for the long answer!!
*not at all, its a wee bit important, your name, you should have a lot to back it up
Make sense?
*aye, more or less :)mistermik - that didnt work - not one jotmistermik
- oh soz - meaning I'm not sure it isn't "faddy", but I'm sure its better than Internet Essentialskelpie
- ah yes thats true - think i was more surprised at amount written - you must be as busy as me. :)mistermik
- I wish, I'm just pretending furiously that my procrastination is useful in some way! ;)kelpie
- kelpie0
as a start point for a name, try to think deeply about what your company is *for*. Think about that, its different from what you *do* day to day, its not a description of services.
- stem0
- stem0
I remember the Internet Essentials thing from a while back and although the name is less specific, I don't think it's much further forward than it was as Internet Essentials.
Like has already been said, you need to get to the 'essence' of what the company is about.
Looking at your current site and you mugz, I get a I'm a Mac - I'm a PC thing.
Thinking aloud...
What may be appealing to potential clients is this balance or 'mix' of corporate project management with vibrant creative thinking.
Don't get too hung up on a logo just yet, define the brand.
- DownHill0
http://www.universalmode.co.uk/
and
http://www.universalmode.com
are not taken either... YET!!!!!
- MrMackem0
U Mode is too close to Comode for my liking.
- moth0
What about just 'Mode.'?
- mistermik0
universalwood™
?