CD201 Design Research and Ideas Generation Week   09 April 14, 2010

NAMING, MASTHEADS & COVERLINES

Naming is one of the first steps in branding and these days is a business in itself. A good name is important if you wish to be remembered, especially if you want to take advantage of the best marketing strategy: word of mouth.

In today’s online marketplace it is essential to have a name that stands out from the increasing clutter. Books and magazines especially are a dime a dozen, just look around a bookstore or newsagent – this makes a good name even more important. A name must resonate with the consumer and relate to the cause you’re doing it for.

So why don’t we just name it the same as our space?

1. Think about how much more powerful your cause sounds if you have ‘brought to you by…’

2. It is hard to shake off the newsletter association.3. Your publication target market might differ from your regular

target.

As with most things, deciding on a name is a process. Of course occasionally you do get lucky and the name appears to you straight away. This is rare and most of the time you will have to take steps in order to discover the perfect name. This doesn’t mean its any less creative, it just means you’ll have a solid base from which to build on.___________________________________________________________NAMING PROCESSThe first thing to do is start listing potential names? Not necessarily. Don’t run before you can walk. It’s time to exercise those creative muscles and go through the process, a little bit of time spent here could pay off big time later.

What I’ve included below is a method for creating names that’s used in the industry. It’s all pretty obvious but it’s important you go through the steps. Get a big piece of paper, a couple of pens and make a mess. Use whatever technique you are fond of; mind maps, association lists etc. just start getting words down and make sure you don’t critique as you go – do that later.

Step 1 – BrainstormingBegin by finding words that:

1. Describe your product category. What does your cause hope to do? If you had to describe your cause in one word – what would it be?

2. Describe the differences between you and your competition.Is there someone doing something similar out there already? What’s your U.S.P?

3. Describe other benefits of your product. These benefits may include product history, customer points of view, the target market. The list could go on and on. It’s important to look at all angles of your product.

_________________________________________________WORD-MARKSA word-mark uses the company name with proprietary letterforms. In other words, it uses the whole name but does so in a company associated typeface. That typeface could be bought, modified or created, but should normally only be used when displayed as a logo. To overuse the typeface elsewhere minimizes the power it should have.

Quite often when using a word-mark the designer will try to convey some of what the company does. If the company is involved in liquids, they may add the sense of waves flowing through the letters. The focus remains on the word/name but there is a secondary element, which helps suggest more about the brand.

AdvantagesThe proliferation of logos in the world has made recognition of symbols very difficult. Using the entire name sidesteps the problem with recognition. When asked if the Mobil logo belongs to Mobil, most people would agree that it does.

DisadvantagesIf not handled skilfully, a word-mark alone may be generic and lack mnemonic value. It is also limited to words that can be spoken phonetically, no silent letters or exotic ways of pronouncing etc.

Shelter – Designed by Johnson Banks, in 2003.

Families – Designed by Herb Lubalin, in 1980.

Mother & Child – Also designed by Herb Lubalin

Democrazy – designed by Plan B

Sydney Dance

Company by Vince Frost. So simple but so effective – typical Frost, he has a knack of finding the truth in simplicity.

___________________________________________________________CASE STUDY – i-D Magazinei-D is a British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the form of a hand-stapled fanzine with text produced on a typewriter. Over the years the magazine evolved into a mature glossy but it has kept street style and youth central to every issue.

The magazine has always been known for it’s fashion (street) and typography (letterpress) and for doing things it’s own way. In 2005 it celebrated it’s silver anniversary with a sell out exhibition called i-Dentity. The wink of the i-D tipped on it’s side is credited by some as starting the smiley craze and has continued through cover photography on every single issue from #1 even when the masthead reverted back to normal.

___________________________________________________________Back to naming – TOOLSUse a dictionary and a thesaurus and write down all the extra words that they give you, these are some of the strongest tools you’ll have available at this point. Remember this is not a test; don’t be pedantic about the words you write down, it’s more important that you get all the stuff out of your head and onto the paper.

You should be writing down one word, looking it up in/on the thesaurus, checking it’s meaning in the dictionary, writing down any other words that present themselves to you, checking the encyclopedia, seeing what else that leads on to. In an essence this is just another way of creating a mind map. You are going from one thought to the next, constantly evolving and delving deeper into the core of your company. It should be a time of learning and discovery; it should feel like a mental game of ping-pong.

Step 2 – Putting things togetherSometimes just one word will work by itself, other times you might start to see interesting combinations that work better. This is when you can start using:

1. Affiliations – Two or more words put together that link in a positive way. Our brains are remarkable when it comes to drawing connections between things. By finding associations our minds learn and increase their memory (see more about this in the inspiration bit below.)

2. Acronyms – A name formed by combining initial letters or parts of words, such as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) and IBM (International Business Machines). Using the initial letter of words (or word parts) in a phrase or name they are publicly known as this abbreviation rather than the full forms for which they stand. They are usually pronounced in a way that is distinctive from the full forms: as the names of individual letters (IBM), as a word (NATO), or as a combination (IUPAC).

___________________________________________________________CASE STUDY – Mastheads

___________________________________________________________Step 3 – Test against some rulesWhen you begin to think you have some possible names you should decide on some rules you will follow. Here are some rules to test your names against:

1. Is it sensory, meaningful and easy to remember – this may be a customer’s first introduction to the company/product/magazine so it should resonate a meaning with them. Lush soaps?

2. Is it spelt as it sounds and easily pronounced – people need to be able to write down the name and pass it on to others. Remember people may have to write you cheques or publicise you in other media – what happens if they spell or say your name wrong? Does anyone know the company called GOOGOL?

3. Does it require too much explanation – Do people get it or do you need to provide a detailed 20-page document to explain how creative you have been by choosing that name. It’s good to be creative but remember the K.I.S.S. mantra.

4. Does it evoke a positive mental image with the target market – ‘Death to Capitalist Pigs’ might work for a punk fanzine but probably not for a computer magazine. Think about how the audience will view it; does it describe benefits over negatives?

5. Will it grow and stay relevant - the company may want to market completely different products in the future so limiting a name to it’s current range could prove detrimental. Also don’t attach yourself to any trends or fads (having ‘groovy’ in your name might’ve worked 20 years ago but not now. What words do we use now that will date badly in the future?)

6. Does the meaning always stay the same – Does the name have any negative connotations in other languages or countries?

7. Does it have limited syllables – the lower the syllables the more punch your name has.

8. Does each syllable start with a strong consonant - (B, C, D, G, K, P, Q, T)9. Does it begin with letters early in the alphabet – with the amount of things listed in

alphabetical order (phone books, trade shows, business papers etc.) it makes sense to be at the front. Or does it?

These last three are a few other things that branding experts suggest – I don’t know whether I agree with all of these as it seems to be narrowing the selection too much (at risk of all names becoming the same.)

Of course, in the real world, after you’ve thought about all this you need to make sure the name is available. Check the web to see if there is another company out there already with the same name. More importantly you should check to see if the URL is vacant.

Conclusion While this might seem like a lot of trouble to go to it is a worthwhile process and one that will ultimately serve you and the client best. Having a good name to base a publication on will make every step after this easier. It will also take you a long way with 1st impressions, an important thing when you want to stand out in the crowded newsagent or book store.___________________________________________________________CASE STUDY – Changing headsWhy do all following mastheads have to look the same? Couldn’t they evolve over time and change to keep the reader and designer interested? Apart from losing recognition it’s not a bad idea – but I would suggest not doing this straight from issue 1 – build awareness and then, providing your audience is creative enough, start changing it up. STAB did it from issue 1, but then they already had a large existing audience. Below is the first three issue’s mastheads.

Monster Children also did it straight from issue 1 but then it could be argued that both books have a target market that feels comfortable with change.

COVER LINES – Part 1To get your attention, magazines feature cover lines. They are designed to reassure regular readers and tempt new ones into purchasing a magazine. These cover titles ebb and flow from a design point of view – sometimes lots of them, sometimes just one; sometimes different font sizes, sometimes the same; sometimes the big story goes above the magazine title, sometimes right through it – depending on the selling of that issue’s stories.

One thing never changes however; rather like advertising headlines, cover lines must be short and punchy.

If you look at this issue of The New Yorker you’ll see the main story “Obama’s Cabinet!” exclamation point and all, running partly through the title. Then in large type, RACING TO SAVE THE ECONOMY with a sub head on what the story is about, smaller type sizes follow for a two GAY RIGHTS REVISITED heading which covers two gay issue stories, LUXURY REHAB on celebrity addicts, BLACK FAMILY STORIES on ancestry and at the bottom, James Wood writes on author V.S. Naipaul and the weekly fiction story is highlighted.

The New Yorker is famous for its illustrated covers so prints its title page as a wraparound which while expensive allows for extra advertising space. All these stories are targeted at the AB demographic of New York and the main world cities – people who are involved, have higher incomes and a Democratic or liberal view. Such people are few and far between in Texas.

Vanity Fair has a similar but wider target group but like The New Yorker appeals to the luxury market. Above the title, a story on a leading villain in the global financial crisis; note white reversed out of red and caps san serif. Now the fonts go up and down but the big story is HEATH LEDGER’S DEATH twelve months later plus assorted references to what the story covers. Scattered round the page, stories on politics and movie stars which besides business are the main areas covered by the magazine.

Country Life is a British publication which appeals also to the high-end market but in a jaunty way. Besides rural Britain, it’s market is city people with country connections and wannabees . It’s cover has a main feature on the changing ways of agriculture but the words APPLE TURNOVER give it an entertaining twist. Likewise BAROQUE TO THE FUTURE – a look at the architectural revival of an Eighteenth Century house. Country Life is a good example of selling dreams – many of its readers wouldn’t be able to afford a house in the country with 7 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 3 reception rooms, a wine cellar, pool, tennis court and formal gardens but they may well dream of it and buy something the magazine advertises to feel part of it all.

Men’s Health targets young males 18-30 who work and play but have an interest beyond FHM readers; responsibility. All stories therefore have a health angle but they’re short (and curly) and echo the title’s slogan “The Magazine Men Live By” which sits above the title. Various fonts in various sizes give the magazine a look of excitement, once again for the target market. Stories cover Sex and food, losing weight, health again with the MONKEY BRAINS story although with a humorous angle, sex and drinking and exercise, food and career – everything for the young male who though career-oriented, sees himself as a dude.

WIRED magazine bills itself above the title as Ideas/Technology/Culture/Business which is where most higher end magazines lie. It’s targeting young tech savvy career oriented males with money to spend. The current issue has a huge title and a cool font and goes for a high tech style. The featured articles are scattered across the bottom – each with it’s own interest to the TM – a leaked-memo site, why placebos don’t help the pharmaceutical industry and how to fake your own death – cool stories for adventurous guys. Cover finishes with more promise HOW TO/hack a corporation, live off-grid, unlock your music.

___________________________________________________________A WORD ABOUT TYPE – The widow and the orphanIn typesetting, widows refers to the uncomfortably short (e.g. a single word or two very short words) final line of a paragraph. This brings far too much emphasis to the final word and can change the intended meaning of the paragraph. The final word can become stressed, therefore having more/un-needed importance.

A related term, orphan, refers to the first line of a paragraph appearing on its own at the bottom of a column with the remaining portion of the paragraph appearing on the following column; in other words the first line of the paragraph has been ‘left’ by the remaining portion of text. It also occurs when one line from a paragraph is left to start a new column. Orphans halt communication. The first example leads the reader to believe it’s the end. The second just looks wrong and gives an un-needed pause between the first and second line of the paragraph, slowing down the information intake of the reader.

One easy way to remember the difference between and an orphan and a widow is to remember that orphans “have no past, but a future”, whilewidows “have a past but no future.” Widows and orphans are considered sloppy typography and should be avoided.___________________________________________________________HOMEWORKYou should aim to have three different names for next week, try to get a one word name, an affiliation and an acronym. To each of these names you should attribute a rationale (explanation of what it means, where it comes from.) In class we’ll discuss them and work out which one works best.

Just to go through the steps again:Step 1 – BrainstormingStep 2 – Putting things togetherStep 3 – Test against some rules___________________________________________________________INSPIRATION & EXTRASEach week I throw up things I find that relate to what we’ve been discussing or working on that week. Sometimes it might be things that relate to your major assessment and sometimes just stuff I thought was worth seeing. If you find something you think we should be showing or something we just have to see let us know in class or throw an email over to me at matt@billyblue.com.au and I’ll get it up here or on the Bluniinspiration site.___________________________________________________________WHAT DOES A DESK CLOUD LOOK LIKE?John Kounios, a scientist at the Cognitive Science Research Institute in Pennsylvania, tested people on how they associated two words that held unrelated concepts. His famous example was the ‘desk cloud’ – a cloud shaped as a desk, or a particular type of cloud that desks sit on. Just by thinking about the desk cloud we have stimulated the areas of our brain that process meanings, memory, and language. The most exciting thing about this is

we can get better at it, like a muscle we can make this part of our brains stronger.

___________________________________________________________THE MAN WHO KNOWSMore Al Ries, because I can never get enough of his enthusiasm.___________________________________________________________WHEN THE NEWS-AGENTS TELL YOU HOW TO DESIGNEMPTY (always named in caps) went through a real learn on the job process. The first one we we did as we saw fit and it did really well on Oxford St – unfortunately we had a lot of returns when they realised it was just an art magazine. Issue 2 did well because of the scoop on the Incredibles. Issue 3 saw us fall into a more comfortable rhythm focusing on the art not the distribution house.

___________________________________________________________RULE #6. DOES THE MEANING ALWAYS STAY THE SAMEHSBC has been running a campaign for the last few years that demonstrates rule 6 of naming very well. Does the name have any negative connotations or other meanings in other languages or countries?