First of all, as an introduction, I will tell you that to make a mark in the world of photography, as, in any business, there are infinite factors to take into account: the language you use; your product and its qualities; the values and principles that define you; your personality and that of your work; the name of the business and its associations; the merchandising, the meaning of the symbol, stationery, advertising, etc.
Well, these last ones: name, symbol, and advertising/stationery, are what graphic designers call corporate identity and it is what will be your first and most lasting marketing tool for the studio or business, as it will be) or It should be) the first thing the potential customer comes across when they try to contact you or hear from you; business card, the logo inside the card, the dossiers or video portfolios, your corporate colors in advertising, your name, etc. Well devised and worked, it will also help to reach the clients you really want and, even if you are specialized and this corporate identity transmits it with quality and elegance, to close more sales at better prices.
WHAT IS NAMING?
The search for the name is known as Naming and it is one of the first aspects that you usually think of when you start, and not without reason, because the name will determine your personality and quite possibly the logo symbol. After this will come the corporate colors and a very long chain of decisions …
In this article, I come to tell you some ideas and tips that have helped me when learning to do naming and I think they open your mind a lot when it gets stuck when thinking about how to call yourself artistically (or your studio). If you stop by the keywords in the tips below, there is a huge universe of names waiting for you. If you give the coconut a little, of course.
1. CHOOSE TOPIC
You can start by choosing a topic that you like, of which you are a specialist, with which you want to be identified or, much better, where your potential customers are from.
Having this defined is more efficient when it comes to focusing on the marketing of your studio or as a freelance.
Example: I choose the theme “Nature” because I like birds and I photograph them, that’s why I call the Colibrí studio.
THEME IDEAS
- Styles or philosophy of life: healthy, relaxed and meditative or sports life.
- Photography in general: lenses or retro cameras that you like (we could call Mario D3X00 haha), something from the history of photography that catches your attention, etc.
- Work style: if you are minimalist, conceptual Chema Madoz style, very purist with zero photoshop, which touches a lot, etc.
- Photography techniques: long exposure, black and white, depth of field or your favorite technique.
- Hobbies: urban sports (skating, skateboarding ), sports in general, pets, tattoos, nature or the hobby of your choice.
- Target audience or product this is very efficient (you know, for marketing): portraits, seniors, children, albums, books, journalism, weddings, etc.
2. SEARCH (OR AS XAVIER GRAU CALLS IT) DO A NAME HUNT
Once the topic has been decided, the idea is that, through a mind map and then in a brainstorming ( brainstorming ), you write everything you have in mind without censorship, do not cut yourself and write down everything you can think of this subject although it seems absurd since theirs is that you choose some of these and in the end, you end up, not only with the brainstorming but with around 100 possible names.
Search for blogs, magazines, books, articles, publications … of the chosen topic and do a name hunt, anything that catches your attention: a technicality that you like, adjectives that are repeated or striking, terms of the guild, etc.
3. TECHNIQUE: MATCH WORDS
A very successful technique is to join two words without using the letter “Y” in the middle. They can be those you have found in the previous point (or later, or those that occur to you). You can even include misspellings to create a new word, use suffixes and prefixes, other languages, etc.
EXAMPLES
- Imagine you make books in the form of comics: “FotoBeo”. Une photography, the verb ver and the word Tebeo.
- Or if you are a photographer with a studio focused on the world of football with very current photos: “for today”. Foot de football, the word photo can be intuited and ends with today … I don’t know, this is infinite and reality is beyond fiction 😉.
4. QUALITIES
When choosing among the 100, try to have at least some of these qualities, as those of DameNáme teach us : descriptive, preferably short, permeated, pronounced, evoking emotions, creative (do not stay with the first, flee from the obvious) and original (that does not follow fads or trends), eloquent, that you see the logo just by naming it.