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99% Invisible #109- Title TK (Standard 4:30)
From Roman Mars | Part of the 99% Invisible (Standard Length) series | 04:29
The business of naming businesses.
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- 99% Invisible #109- Title TK (Standard 4:30)
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- Roman Mars
The name is important. It’s the first thing of any product you use or buy or see. The tip of the spear. You are bombarded by thousands of names every day.
(Chase Field. Credit: Cygnusloop99)
In this daily barrage, only the names that are most interesting and most pleasant on the tongue can survive in your memory. So it’s no surprise that companies—especially large ones like Sony or Procter & Gamble—hire naming companies.
That is, there are companies that come up with names for things. Cars, lines of yogurt, iPhone apps, small businesses, sodas, movies, and even theories have all been named by professionals.
Now, we’ve all come up with names before—for pets, or children, or bands, or blogs. But when it comes to designing a name for a business or a product, there are a number of additional factors to consider.
Case study: Photoshop Elements.
The word”Elements” took a lot of work.
Photoshop was looking to market a less-expensive version of their software, which they wanted to market as having all the capabilities of regular Photoshop but without many of the “bells and whistles.” Adobe hired Oakland-based naming company Catchword to come up with something. Catchword went through a month-long exploration of every word that might apply: “essentials,” “basics,” “light,” etc., but they all sounded compromising. Finally, they came across Elements, which implies both simplicity and necessity; the parts that are basic but important.
(Catchword, by the way, got its name from the guiding words at the top of the dictionary pages. Those are the catchwords.)
There are really only a handful of businesses that deal exclusively in names, and their services can cost thens of thousands of dollars. In addition to coming up with names, they also determine what names are available for trademark, which URLs are available, and they conduct linguistic checks to ensure that potential names are pronounceable, unique, and appropriate in languages around the world.
Linguistic checks can be vital: Catchword was once naming a toy and one of the names they had come up with for it turned out to mean “a small device that doesn’t work” in Japanese. So they ruled that option out.
(Catchword has named Starbucks Refreshers.)
More than anything else, Catchword just produces a ton of names. They see a direct relationship between quantity and quality, and casually remark that the first 500 names anyone comes up with are going to be obvious and uninteresting. Catchword will generate more than 2000 names per client, 30 to 50 of which they will present as viable options.
And they can come up with so many names because they make names across a naming spectrum:
(Excerpt from A/R/M/I marketing.)
At one end of the spectrum you have descriptive names, which just describe what the thing is—like Raisin Bran, and Shredded Wheat.
Descriptive names can be great because they’re self explanatory. But they are also hard to own. In fact, neither Raisin Bran nor Shredded Wheat is trademarked. Anyone can make a cereal and call it raisin bran or shredded wheat.
The other big drawback to descriptive names is that they can be limiting. National Public Radio changed its name to NPR so that they wouldn’t be limited to just one medium.
Descriptive names contributed to the downfalls of a lot of specific start-ups in the ’90s, like estamps.com, which had trouble expanding services beyond its name.
All the way on the other end of the spectrum are so-called “Arbitary” names, which don’t tell you anything about the product or service. Like Apple.
Arbitrary names allow for flexibility—in Apple’s case, they used to only make computers, the name allows them to make anything.
Arbitrary names can also be completely made up. These kinds of names are called “empty vessels.” Names such as Hulu, Exxon, and Kodak mean nothing on their own, and were largely chosen because they are short, unique, and sound appealing.
Catchword came up with an arbitrary name, Vudu, for an online movie service.
Arbitrary names and empty vessels are easy to trademark, easy to get the domain name for, and are usually good in languages around the world.
Drawback: they are hard to market. You have to put a lot of money behind these kinds of name to tell people what they mean. You would have no idea what Amazon sells or does if they didn’t have the budget to tell you about all their services.
Excerpt from A/R/M/I marketing.
Most names fall somewhere in between the two poles of descriptive and arbitrary names. These are “semi descriptive” or “suggestive” names. Like Microsoft, which kind of says “software for microcomputers,” but not explicitly. Microsoft is a “coined word”—a word that doesn’t exist in an english dictionary, but is made up of familiar words, word parts, or sounds. Spotify, Nespresson, and Netflix are also coined words. They sound like English words but they’re not.
(Catchword also developed the tagline for the American Red Cross.)
A few mile away from Catchword is another naming company called A Hundred Monkeys. (A Hundred Monkeys got its name from the idea that if you put a hundred monkeys in front of a hundred typewriters, you’re bound to get a good name. It’s a joke about the process.)
(Coincidentally, both A Hundred Monkeys and Catchword named wearable movement trackers. At left is Basis, named by A Hundred Monkeys; at right is Flex, named by Catchword.)
A Hundred Monkeys doesn’t make coined words or empty vessels. They prefer to come up with names based around a narrative: ones inspired by anatomical charts, constellations, secret service codenames, rundown theaters, types of wind and ocean currents. They strive for names that lead to conversation. They have named Front Porch Senior living communities, The Lot (Rhode Island’s state lottery), and Start Here ?Microsoft Windows tutorial. They also named Conditioned Hypereating, a theory for how fast food companies design food to make it irresistible.
(A Hundred Monkeys named Inkling, an online textbook company.)
Rather than a naming spectrum, A Hundred Monkeys sees more of a sort of name taxonomy, in which classifications break down into 25 categories of names. Some examples:
Names of real people (Tesla Motors, Jack Daniels, Newman’s Own)
Names of imaginary mascots (Jolly Green Giant, Dr. Pepper, Captain Morgan)
Americana names (Baby Ruth, Dixon Ticonderoga, 76 Gasoline)
Mythical names (Nike, Pandora, Hermes)
Foreign-feeling names (Clinique, Häagen Dazs, Tazo)
Lifestyle statement names (Forever 21, True Religion, LiveStrong).
The takeaway is this: if you have enough money, the name can be anything. When the iPad was about to come out, everyone thought it was a really silly name. You heard all kinds of sanitary napkin jokes.
(From blindapple.com)
Now, through sheer force of will and advertising dollars, you don’t think twice about the word “iPad.”
But some names are just unsalvageable.
99% Invisible producer Avery Trufelman spoke with Laurel Sutton, co-founder of Catchword Branding, and Eli Altman, creative director at A Hundred Monkeys and author of the naming book Don’t Call It That. Catchword namer Alex Kelley also makes an appearance .
We asked both companies we spoke with to come up with names for the episode. Here’s what they sent us:
Catchword: For Name’s Sake; Kickin’ Ass and Makin’ Names; Name, Set, Match; Names In Lights; Nerds of Naming; Nerds of Words; The Dub Hub (Or, Dub Steps, though it is less transparent); The Game of the Name; The Name Changers; The Name Droppers; The X Names; You Name It (or Rather, They Do)
A Hundred Monkeys: Namesake; By any other name; Call it like it is; Name dropping
And yes, Clem, it turns out you were right. Blue Ruin. Someone’s got that job.
Music: “The Clockwork Maid”-The Clockwork Dolls; “Keetley”- Ok Ikumi; “Wonder Happens”- Podington Bear; “A Mobile Over Your Bed”- Lullatone; “Cat on the Fence”- Felix Laban; “Filtered Light”- Ok Ikumi; “Stars on the Ceiling of a Planetarium” – Lullatone; “Morning Talk”-Arcade Fire; “Supersymmetry”-Arcade Fire; “Little Fury” – The Breeders
99% Invisible #109- Title TK (Standard 4:30)
From Roman Mars | Part of the 99% Invisible (Standard Length) series | 04:29
The business of naming businesses.
- Playing
- 99% Invisible #109- Title TK (Standard 4:30)
- From
- Roman Mars
The name is important. It’s the first thing of any product you use or buy or see. The tip of the spear. You are bombarded by thousands of names every day.
(Chase Field. Credit: Cygnusloop99)
In this daily barrage, only the names that are most interesting and most pleasant on the tongue can survive in your memory. So it’s no surprise that companies—especially large ones like Sony or Procter & Gamble—hire naming companies.
That is, there are companies that come up with names for things. Cars, lines of yogurt, iPhone apps, small businesses, sodas, movies, and even theories have all been named by professionals.
Now, we’ve all come up with names before—for pets, or children, or bands, or blogs. But when it comes to designing a name for a business or a product, there are a number of additional factors to consider.
Case study: Photoshop Elements.
The word”Elements” took a lot of work.
Photoshop was looking to market a less-expensive version of their software, which they wanted to market as having all the capabilities of regular Photoshop but without many of the “bells and whistles.” Adobe hired Oakland-based naming company Catchword to come up with something. Catchword went through a month-long exploration of every word that might apply: “essentials,” “basics,” “light,” etc., but they all sounded compromising. Finally, they came across Elements, which implies both simplicity and necessity; the parts that are basic but important.
(Catchword, by the way, got its name from the guiding words at the top of the dictionary pages. Those are the catchwords.)
There are really only a handful of businesses that deal exclusively in names, and their services can cost thens of thousands of dollars. In addition to coming up with names, they also determine what names are available for trademark, which URLs are available, and they conduct linguistic checks to ensure that potential names are pronounceable, unique, and appropriate in languages around the world.
Linguistic checks can be vital: Catchword was once naming a toy and one of the names they had come up with for it turned out to mean “a small device that doesn’t work” in Japanese. So they ruled that option out.
(Catchword has named Starbucks Refreshers.)
More than anything else, Catchword just produces a ton of names. They see a direct relationship between quantity and quality, and casually remark that the first 500 names anyone comes up with are going to be obvious and uninteresting. Catchword will generate more than 2000 names per client, 30 to 50 of which they will present as viable options.
And they can come up with so many names because they make names across a naming spectrum:
(Excerpt from A/R/M/I marketing.)
At one end of the spectrum you have descriptive names, which just describe what the thing is—like Raisin Bran, and Shredded Wheat.
Descriptive names can be great because they’re self explanatory. But they are also hard to own. In fact, neither Raisin Bran nor Shredded Wheat is trademarked. Anyone can make a cereal and call it raisin bran or shredded wheat.
The other big drawback to descriptive names is that they can be limiting. National Public Radio changed its name to NPR so that they wouldn’t be limited to just one medium.
Descriptive names contributed to the downfalls of a lot of specific start-ups in the ’90s, like estamps.com, which had trouble expanding services beyond its name.
All the way on the other end of the spectrum are so-called “Arbitary” names, which don’t tell you anything about the product or service. Like Apple.
Arbitrary names allow for flexibility—in Apple’s case, they used to only make computers, the name allows them to make anything.
Arbitrary names can also be completely made up. These kinds of names are called “empty vessels.” Names such as Hulu, Exxon, and Kodak mean nothing on their own, and were largely chosen because they are short, unique, and sound appealing.
Catchword came up with an arbitrary name, Vudu, for an online movie service.
Arbitrary names and empty vessels are easy to trademark, easy to get the domain name for, and are usually good in languages around the world.
Drawback: they are hard to market. You have to put a lot of money behind these kinds of name to tell people what they mean. You would have no idea what Amazon sells or does if they didn’t have the budget to tell you about all their services.
Excerpt from A/R/M/I marketing.
Most names fall somewhere in between the two poles of descriptive and arbitrary names. These are “semi descriptive” or “suggestive” names. Like Microsoft, which kind of says “software for microcomputers,” but not explicitly. Microsoft is a “coined word”—a word that doesn’t exist in an english dictionary, but is made up of familiar words, word parts, or sounds. Spotify, Nespresson, and Netflix are also coined words. They sound like English words but they’re not.
(Catchword also developed the tagline for the American Red Cross.)
A few mile away from Catchword is another naming company called A Hundred Monkeys. (A Hundred Monkeys got its name from the idea that if you put a hundred monkeys in front of a hundred typewriters, you’re bound to get a good name. It’s a joke about the process.)
(Coincidentally, both A Hundred Monkeys and Catchword named wearable movement trackers. At left is Basis, named by A Hundred Monkeys; at right is Flex, named by Catchword.)
A Hundred Monkeys doesn’t make coined words or empty vessels. They prefer to come up with names based around a narrative: ones inspired by anatomical charts, constellations, secret service codenames, rundown theaters, types of wind and ocean currents. They strive for names that lead to conversation. They have named Front Porch Senior living communities, The Lot (Rhode Island’s state lottery), and Start Here ?Microsoft Windows tutorial. They also named Conditioned Hypereating, a theory for how fast food companies design food to make it irresistible.
(A Hundred Monkeys named Inkling, an online textbook company.)
Rather than a naming spectrum, A Hundred Monkeys sees more of a sort of name taxonomy, in which classifications break down into 25 categories of names. Some examples:
Names of real people (Tesla Motors, Jack Daniels, Newman’s Own)
Names of imaginary mascots (Jolly Green Giant, Dr. Pepper, Captain Morgan)
Americana names (Baby Ruth, Dixon Ticonderoga, 76 Gasoline)
Mythical names (Nike, Pandora, Hermes)
Foreign-feeling names (Clinique, Häagen Dazs, Tazo)
Lifestyle statement names (Forever 21, True Religion, LiveStrong).
The takeaway is this: if you have enough money, the name can be anything. When the iPad was about to come out, everyone thought it was a really silly name. You heard all kinds of sanitary napkin jokes.
(From blindapple.com)
Now, through sheer force of will and advertising dollars, you don’t think twice about the word “iPad.”
But some names are just unsalvageable.
99% Invisible producer Avery Trufelman spoke with Laurel Sutton, co-founder of Catchword Branding, and Eli Altman, creative director at A Hundred Monkeys and author of the naming book Don’t Call It That. Catchword namer Alex Kelley also makes an appearance .
We asked both companies we spoke with to come up with names for the episode. Here’s what they sent us:
Catchword: For Name’s Sake; Kickin’ Ass and Makin’ Names; Name, Set, Match; Names In Lights; Nerds of Naming; Nerds of Words; The Dub Hub (Or, Dub Steps, though it is less transparent); The Game of the Name; The Name Changers; The Name Droppers; The X Names; You Name It (or Rather, They Do)
A Hundred Monkeys: Namesake; By any other name; Call it like it is; Name dropping
And yes, Clem, it turns out you were right. Blue Ruin. Someone’s got that job.
Music: “The Clockwork Maid”-The Clockwork Dolls; “Keetley”- Ok Ikumi; “Wonder Happens”- Podington Bear; “A Mobile Over Your Bed”- Lullatone; “Cat on the Fence”- Felix Laban; “Filtered Light”- Ok Ikumi; “Stars on the Ceiling of a Planetarium” – Lullatone; “Morning Talk”-Arcade Fire; “Supersymmetry”-Arcade Fire; “Little Fury” – The Breeders
The Moon in the Sun
From Nate DiMeo | Part of the the memory palace series | 05:23
In which we learn of a series of articles that appeared in the New York Sun in 1835 that purported to tell a true account of recent discoveries of fantastic wildlife on the moon. SPOILER ALERT: it's a hoax. Sorry to ruin the surprise.
- Playing
- The Moon in the Sun
- From
- Nate DiMeo
Mom Prom
From Homefront Chronicles | Part of the Homefront Chronicles series | 05:28
Once you’re a mom, does your vision of the ultimate night out become different from before?
- Playing
- Mom Prom
- From
- Homefront Chronicles
Myla Rugge realized shortly after becoming a mother for the first time that something was missing for she and her friends. She took matters into her own hands and created one of the first events of its kind in the US. A prom just for moms.
99% Invisible #102- Icon For Access (Standard 4:30 version)
From Roman Mars | Part of the 99% Invisible (Standard Length) series | 04:29
When a universal symbol does not universally apply.
There is a beauty to a universal standard. The idea that people across the world can agree that when they interact with one specific thing, everyone will be on the same page– regardless of language or culture or geographic locale. If you’re in Belgrade or Shanghai or São Paulo, you can look at a sign and know instantly, without speaking a word of the local language, that this floor is slippery. That the emergency exit is over there. That that substance is poisonous, and you should not eat it.
iso_hazard
(ISO Warning Signs. H200 means “Explosive Materials,” but it kind of looks like “Caution: Giant Extra-Terrestrial War Cruiser Heading Towards Earth”)
The group behind those internationally recognized logos is called the International Organization for Standardization.
One of the most recognizable ISO symbols in the International Symbol of Access. You might not know it by that name, but you’ve seen it.
International_Symbol_of_Access.svg
(The International Symbol of Access)
The International Symbol of Access is everywhere–on parking spaces, on buttons that operate automatic doors, in bathrooms, on seats on the bus or at movie theaters. Anywhere there’s an indication of special accommodations made for people with disabilities.
The logo was created through a design contest in 1968, coordinated by an organization now called Rehabilitation International. The logo would have to be readily identifiable from reasonable distance, self-descriptive, simple, unambiguous, and practical. The winner was a Danish designer named Susanne Koefed–though her original design didn’t have a head!
wheelchair-symbol-susanne-koefoed
(At left, Koefoed’s original design)
Within a decade, the logo–the one with a head–was endorsed by both the United Nations and ISO. And so over time, the International Symbol of Access became embedded in the urban fabric of cities and towns across the world. People began to pay attention to the kinds of special building accommodations that spaces need to be inviting for people with varying degrees of ability. And then in 1990, Congress passed the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which President George H. W. Bush signed into law. Modeled on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ADA…
“…prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in the mainstream of American life — to enjoy employment opportunities, to purchase goods and services, and to participate in State and local government programs and services.”
The presence of this single, attractive logo to signify a universal right for access helped create an atmosphere in which the world could begin to adapt to new building parameters and regulations as specified per the ADA. In many ways, the adoption of the International Accessibility Icon is a success story in a simple design changing the world for the better.
But this isn’t the end of the story. Because as the logo got absorbed into the built environment, and the politics of (dis)ability became more nuanced, some people started finding it a little lacking.
And so one group, the Accessible Icon Project, has created a new logo that they hope will ultimately replace ISO standard.
AccessibleIcon
(Courtesy of Sara Hendren and the Accessible Icon Project)
Here, in the Accessible Icon Project’s words, is what’s different:
accessible icon project
(Courtesy of Sara Hendren and the Accessible Icon Project)
1. Head is forward to indicate the forward motion of ahte person through space. Here the person is the “driver” or decision maker about her mobility.
2. Arm angle is pointing backward to suggest the dynamic mobility of a chair user, regardless of whether or not she uses her arms. Depicting the body in motion represents the symbolically active status of navigating the world.
3. By including white angled knockouts the symbol presents the wheel as being in motion. These knockouts also work for creating stencils used in spray paint application of the icon. Having just one versin of the logo keeps things more consistent and allows viewers to more clearly understand intended message.
4. The human depiction in this icon is consistent with other body representations found in the ISO 7001 – DOT Pictograms. Using a different portrayal of the human body would clash with thtese established and widely used icons and could lead to confusion.
5. The leg has been moved forwward to allow for more space between it and the wheel which allows for better readability and cleaner application of icon as a stencil.
–Accessible Icon Project
Some people from the Accessible Icon Project have taken to altering signs with the current Universal Symbol of Access.
1672754-inline-750-access-07
(Courtesy of Sara Hendren and the Accessible Icon Project)
UptonStreetCambridgeCloseWE
(Courtesy of Sara Hendren and the Accessible Icon Project)
The DIY nature of this logo redesign project points to the fact that the process by which this new project is getting adopted is the complete opposite of how the Universal Symbol of Access became entrenched in global society. Rather than go for a universal buy-in from on high, the Accessible Icon Project has been entirely grassroots–which can be a problem. Because without starting life as a universally- and internationally-recognized symbol, there’s a lack of clarity as to whether this new sign meets the standards put into effect by the Americans With Disabilities Act.
So it all comes back to the question of what we are trying to accomplish through our symbols. Having one unified icon can tell one clear story all over the world. But sometimes stories change. After all, the original name for the group behind the International Symbol of Access–Rehabilitation International–used to be called the International Society for the Welfare of Cripples!The meanings and associations that words have shift over time. And sometimes the symbols need to as well.
But, you know, universality does have an upside. Especially if you’re in Belgrade and about to accidentally ingest poison.
poisonous-gas-dead-bird-symbol-is-2111
(ISO symbol for poisonous gas)
This story was by reported by Lauren Ober (@OberandOut). Lauren spoke with Accessible Icon Project co-founder Sara Hendren, who is an artist, designer, RISD lecturer, and curator of Abler, a site about design and disability. Lauren also spoke with Gary Christenson, mayor of Malden, MA; Jeff Gentry, of Triangle; and disability rights activist Brendon Hildreth, all of whom have been working on bringing the Accessible Icon Project to their respective communities.
Lauren also got to chat with Barry Gray, who, as Chairman of ISO’s Technical Committee on Graphical Symbols, has the best job title ever.
BONUS! Check out Lauren’s story from Only A Game about “WCMX,” or “wheelchair motocross.”
This is Wheelz’s logo
wheelz-sticker-red
(Courtesy of Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham)
Music: “Aquarium”- Casino Versus Japan; “Epiphany”- Podington Bear; “Hard Won”- Podington Bear; “A Drifting Up”- Jon Hopkins; “Rhea”- OK Ikumi; “Sunlight”- OK Ikumi; “Program Reverie”- Podington Bear; “Heavy Flutter”- Podington Bear
First Desegregated School in Virginia
From Vicki Hayes | 05:48
Burgundy Farm School was desegregated 4 years before Brown v. Board
- Playing
- First Desegregated School in Virginia
- From
- Vicki Hayes
Burgundy Farm Country Day School, an independent elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia, was desegregated 4 years before Brown v. Board of Education. This story talks with the first black teacher and student, and with white students and their parents.
education, black history, desegregation, integration, school, virginia
Welsh Renaissance
From Homelands Productions | Part of the Worlds of Difference series | 04:01
Languages around the world are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. But Welsh is making a comeback, and children are leading the way. Jon Miller documents one family?s efforts to learn their native tongue.
- Playing
- Welsh Renaissance
- From
- Homelands Productions
By the middle of the 20th century, the Welsh national language (known as Cymraeg, related to Cornish and Breton) appeared to be dying. Everything from road signs to traffic tickets were written in English. Students were punished for speaking Welsh in school, and the mass media flooded the country with English pop culture. Linguists assumed that Welsh would go the way of Gaelic in Scotland and Ireland?the focus of much nationalist rhetoric, but spoken on a daily basis only in the poorest and most isolated areas.
Today the revival of Welsh is shaping up to be one of the world's most impressive linguistic success stories. Census figures show, for the first time, an increase in Welsh speakers both in real numbers and as a percentage of the population. The rise is especially marked among the young, and in traditionally English-speaking areas in the south and east.
"We can now say, hand on heart, that the language is in the ownership of people throughout Wales," says John Walter Jones, former director of the Welsh Language Board. "It is not something that is being ghettoized and left in a corner. It is there throughout society."
But relearning a language is never easy. In this unnarrated feature, we spend an afternoon with the Steel family of southern Wales. The daughter is in Welsh immersion school, the mother is trying gamely to keep up, and the father isn't sure it's worth the effort.