How do you come up with a design name? If you want to go solo. Use your name or some other branded name?
Who does the audience follow more, the name or the brand?
>>306500
>Use your name or some other branded name?
Interestingly, I've thought about this a lot and asked around. I've heard professors scoff and say no to suing your own name, and would rather you come up with a brand, and I've heard freelancers that got picked up professionally say to just use your name, and let your work brand you.
After talking to some friends about this, it makes sense.
An educator would rather you create a new brand for the sake of making you do a class project and applying learned concepts to your brand.
A person practicing design with natural talent and loads of work already under their belt only needs to put their name in a simple fashion to start their "brand".
So essentially, If you have no good work to your name, might as well start with a brand name to "start" your work, and if you already have god-given talent and good work, you only need your name to attach to it.
>>306500
>use your initials
>make a sans serif wordmark in 5 seconds
>come up with some sexy cool name / brand
>overreaching, can never resolve the logo
I think im going to go for the 2 letters now
using your name is by far the most professional, but the harsh truth is that if you're from a different country, or your name sounds bad, you're fucked.
however, if you're pitching to clients that never heard of yourself, you can come up with a fancy sounding name.
Well, here's a wall of text. Hopefully it helps. It's all suggestions, at the end of day it's all up to you!
First, think about what field your going into.
1. Are you a freelancer/Hobbyist?
2. Are you trying to get hired at an ageny?
3. Are you building a brand?
This will be lengthy but i'll explain each one and what names you could chose from each one.
1. Freelancing/Hobbyist:
You have to chose between your full name or a moniker/nickname. Being a solo designer those are really your only two choices. And at that point it's really about what type of design you do, and who your marketing to.
For instance, if you are more inclined to have a professional style, focus mostly on branding and business identity, or for instance make logotypes like the Calvin Klein logo in your post, you probably want to go with your full name, and if it's a widely known name by a celebrity, add your middle initial in there to help you in SEO.
If you make more laid back designs that are more focused at consumers rather then businesses, or maybe you're an illustrator, or even a hobbyist; a nickname/moniker could be useful, especially if it is somewhat similar to your IRL name.
2. Are you trying to get a job at an Agency?
If your positioning yourself getting a job at an agency it's best to go with your full name 90% of the time. A hiring manager isn't going to take you as seriously if you use a moniker. It's short and simple, use your name.
3. Are you building a personal brand, or a business brand?
For instance, if you were building a personal brand on education, or teaching you'd want to go with your full name so people connect with you more.
If you were building an online brand, or maybe a blog you'd probably want to go with a one word nickname that's easily memorable.
If you were building a business, it could be anything. An easy suggestion though would be your last name and something related to design, so like Klein Conceptual, or Klein Branding
>>306528
And just a followup to this post I made, remember one thing. If your speaking to an audience and building a personal brand, like education, vlogging, or just general art stuff on Youtube, or on a blog, or on social media, it's a really good idea to use your personal name.
People are very attracted now adays to realism, and if you can connect to them as a person and as someone they can trust, it's very valuable.
>>306500
This is the new logo. I bet that any five year old could come up with this. Designers, please explain why do you deserve $50k to write my name in all caps?
>>306532
Brand loyalty.
>>306528
good tips, thanks
>>306522
i have an odd name and i just know it wouldn't work but i can't figure out a brand name