{"id":2320,"date":"2018-09-10T06:55:54","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T06:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rh01.co.uk\/?p=2320"},"modified":"2025-10-23T16:27:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:27:05","slug":"what-not-call-web-design-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/what-not-call-web-design-company\/","title":{"rendered":"What not to call your web design company"},"content":{"rendered":"

For any new business, deciding on your name is difficult. You know you need to get it right<\/em>. While your talent and hard work will contribute to your success, your company name could make all the difference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How do you stand out from the rest? What qualities might your brand name evoke? How do you control that all-important first impression?<\/p>\n

Are you original and left-field? Are you cheap and cheerful, or high-end and aspirational?<\/p>\n

Do you do \u2018what it says on the tin\u2019 or – dare I say it – are you a little bit \u2018kooky\u2019?<\/p>\n

Particularly for web designers and digital marketers, your name needs to resonate with your target market. If someone is to trust you with your brand, they need to have confidence in your ability to market yourself.<\/p>\n

It also has to be unique – and there are only so many words in the world..!<\/p>\n

Helping you decide: a study of design business names<\/h3>\n

By studying 10,000 UK web design and digital marketing companies I\u2019ve noticed some popular naming fashions or conventions. Whether you follow the trends or decide to buck those trends by trying something new is your decision.<\/p>\n

Some caveats: the company names I looked at were from our customers on our reseller hosting<\/a> plans, and from publicly-available mailing lists. It wasn\u2019t an exhaustive list, so I make no claims of scientific accuracy!<\/p>\n

This is meant to be a fun bit of research and subjective opinion. The intent isn\u2019t to single-out any companies out for ridicule, and I\u2019ve done my best to avoid referring to any real companies. But if I\u2019ve made a mistake and accidentally used your company name as an example, please let me know and I\u2019ll remove it!<\/p>\n

The popular choices: pixels<\/h3>\n

It was the repeated appearances of this word in so many company names that inspired this article. 95 companies had the word \u2018pixel\u2019 in the name.<\/p>\n

A pixel refers to the smallest single component of a digital image. For that reason, it makes sense that if you\u2019re working with digital images to use the word in your web design company name.<\/p>\n

\"Pixellated
Pixellated pixie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And clearly, lots of people agree with you.<\/p>\n

What makes \u2018pixel\u2019 so popular? I have a few theories. Firstly, it\u2019s a technical word, but it\u2019s one which – thanks to screens and cameras – the public are relatively familiar-with. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s only two syllables, unlike many other design\/tech words. They\u2019re not scared of pixels, like they might be of \u2018skeuomorphic\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a cute-sounding word! \u2018Pixels\u2019 might make us think of pixies? It could be the name of a sidekick in a cartoon (from Pixar, maybe..?). <\/span><\/p>\n

At the very least, it makes us think of \u2018pics\u2019 – which is informal, and naturally, relevant to visual media. But it\u2019s everywhere in digital design!<\/span><\/p>\n

Blue – and other colours<\/h3>\n

Aah, colour psychology. How clever of you to use \u2018blue\u2019 in your web design brand name! Like 169 other original thinkers.<\/p>\n

Blue conveys trust, stability, creativity, intelligence, calm: you name it, it has many of the qualities you\u2019d look for in a web design agency, or any company for that matter. It\u2019s no surprise that many of the big brands (and \u2018blue\u2019-chips) use blue in their branding.<\/p>\n

Yet…not many large companies actually use the word blue in their name.<\/p>\n

I can think of a couple of brands (pregnancy tests, toilet cleaner – yeuch!), but it\u2019s interesting that creative companies are so enamoured with it.<\/p>\n

I guess \u2018blue\u2019 (and many other colour-related names) adds a vowel to a brand name and helps distinguish it from others. They can help add \u2018quirkiness:\u2019 which – from the evidence – appears to be something which web designers crave.<\/p>\n

\"big<\/p>\n

Try this experiment:<\/strong> think of an animal, any animal. Put the word \u2018blue\u2019 in front of it. Bang it in a search engine.<\/p>\n

I bet there\u2019s a company or organisation called that. They\u2019ll probably call themselves unconventional, if they\u2019re conventional enough to have an \u2018about us\u2019 page.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Animals<\/h3>\n

Animals are everywhere, especially fish and monkeys (137 companies). If you\u2019re not naming a craft beer after an animal, you\u2019re probably naming a digital agency or web designing company.<\/p>\n

It will probably have an unusual colour associated with it, too.<\/p>\n

I think animals are used for a few different reasons. Firstly, it\u2019s the human qualities that we\u2019ve associated with them: monkeys that are cheeky\/intelligent, foxes that are crafty, cats that are cool, fish that are…er, slimy? It\u2019s an attempt at that there \u2018psychology\u2019 business again.<\/p>\n

The second is again – like colours – an attempt to appear a bit \u2018edgy\u2019. Surreal, nonsensical, whimsical. Because creative people are like that, apparently.<\/p>\n

And all successful business people know that Dali was great at hitting conversion targets.<\/p>\n

\"Salvador<\/p>\n

It could also betray a lack of ideas: as animals have relatively neutral associations – at least compared to some words – using an animal could be seen as a safe bet. But if you combine it with a colour, that means you\u2019re bit of a loose cannon, a rogue or scamp…<\/p>\n

Finally, it should make your name memorable, at least if you pick an unusual animal. I wouldn\u2019t recommend \u2018<Something>-Fish\u2019. Your potential clients might get confused with you – The Polka-Dot Fish Group – with your bitter web design company rival: Pin-Stripe Fish Inc.<\/p>\n

Fish are very popular.<\/p>\n

The lesson there is to avoid pet, farm and zoo animals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually hard to find a colour & animal combination that isn\u2019t already the name of a company, hence the macaw at the top of this article – so you\u2019ll certainly be in company if you join this cohort.<\/p>\n

Not a single agency was named after a bacterium. How about Crimson Campylobacter Creative<\/em>? You can have that one for free.<\/p>\n

Fruit<\/h3>\n

Zing! You\u2019re zesty, fresh and full of energy: sweet and not at all bitter\u2026\"Lime\"<\/p>\n

Companies get named after fruits for very-much for the same reasons as companies get named after animals (unless the company sells fruit).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s because of their positive, healthy associations; maybe that they carry the seeds of success (sorry). They have an aroma of unconventionality.<\/p>\n

Juicy citrus fruits are the most popular – lime and lemon in particular.<\/p>\n

Maybe because designers spend a lot of time staring into their drinks?<\/p>\n

Fruits also appeal to the passionate soul of the artist as they\u2019re easier to draw than animals.<\/p>\n

At last count, I could find 35 companies with fruits in their name, but I may have left some fruits out (there are lots). If you\u2019re sophisticated you can even tick the colour-box with fruit: orange, peach, lemon and so on.<\/p>\n

Big and bright<\/h3>\n

I wonder how many sole traders have \u2018big\u2019 in their name? And how \u2018big\u2019 their profits are?<\/p>\n

I find words like \u2018big\u2019 (86); and \u2018bright\u2019 (166) and similar ones in agency\u2019s names a little disingenuous. To me, it betrays a lack of respect for their potential customers\u2019 intelligence: that it would make their company appear larger or \u2018brighter\u2019. They may be right, of course…<\/p>\n

To be fair, \u2018big\u2019 is often combined with something surreal – like Big Turnip – which again seems to be aimed at showing how unique your company is, along with all hundreds of the other similarly-named companies.<\/p>\n

Have the \u2018unusual\u2019 names become mainstream?<\/h3>\n

Maybe 20 years ago, having a wacky, surreal name helped for brand recognition. They helped you stand out.<\/p>\n

But so many design companies have these \u2018unusual\u2019 names, it\u2019s now become rather prosaic.<\/p>\n

Also, so many design companies think it\u2019s a good idea to have such a name that it\u2019s spread everywhere: bars, cafes and drinks in particular.<\/p>\n

So what was something intended to make you stand out from the crowd, has now made you into a (blue) sheep.<\/p>\n

Although just because I\u2019m not a fan of this trend, that doesn\u2019t mean you should avoid it.<\/p>\n

Maybe originality is overrated<\/h3>\n

A story from my marketing past to illustrate this: we were having a meeting about a new website for a legal services firm. When looking at similar sites, we\u2019d seen noticed that law firms seemed to use all the same cliched pictures.<\/p>\n

There were the usual stock photos of unrealistically-glamorous and cheerful suits, obviously.<\/p>\n

There was also a lots of images of:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • scales (of justice)<\/li>\n
  • gavels<\/li>\n
  • law books<\/li>\n
  • contracts, and so on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    All very brown and stuffy:<\/p>\n

    \"Scales<\/p>\n

    What the client was certain about was that they didn\u2019t want the site to include such stereotypical images. They wanted something original, unique, memorable. I agreed with them.<\/p>\n

    Then a bright spark chirped up: \u201cMaybe the reason that other firms use these pictures is that they work?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    It made me reassess my prejudices. Maybe the new and unusual is overrated, when it comes to commercial success. It\u2019s proven that people are generally more comfortable around what they know and have seen before.<\/p>\n

    Certainly from an artistic point of view, original ideas should be celebrated. Creative types are often are attracted to such things, naturally. If your target market is those creative types, then a fun and \u2018kooky\u2019 company name may work for you. But the creative industries are small and few in number compared to all the other potential market sectors.<\/p>\n

    Uniqueness may have value, but if it doesn\u2019t make money, how long can you afford to keep going?<\/p>\n

    Perhaps being \u2018boring and predictable\u2019 when naming your company gives you a better chance of success?<\/p>\n

    Some alternatives to being \u2018alternative\u2019: names that actually describe what you do\"It<\/h3>\n

    The most popular word to have in your web design company is \u2018web\u2019, with 2346 occurrences and \u2018design\u2019 with 2158. \u2018Media\u2019 is used 918 times, \u2018digital\u2019 appears 663 times, while there are 469 occurrences of \u2018creative\u2019.<\/p>\n

    Going for the obvious is an honest choice and it\u2019s good for the search engine results page.<\/p>\n

    Potential clients don\u2019t think \u2018I need a new website – I better type a random colour and animal into a search engine\u2019, they\u2019ll search for what they need.<\/p>\n

    So it\u2019s good to have what you do in your name: it provides clarity in a world of attention scarcity.<\/p>\n

    There is a downside to using generic keywords: ranking in the search engines will be difficult when you\u2019re starting out. That may be avoided if you\u2019re targeting a particularly niche market – like websites for dentists, for example. In that case, it would be wise to include an indication of that in your name.<\/p>\n

    Local brands<\/h3>\n

    It surprises me how few digital marketing\/web companies don\u2019t use their local area in their name. While I appreciate that going to too local – village level – might point to a lack of ambition, but simply calling yourself \u2018<Your City> Digital Marketing\u2019 or similar could have benefits.<\/p>\n

    Try it on your town: do a search. I\u2019m surprised at how few web companies use this tactic, when – thanks to Google\u2019s local searches – it proves so successful for other local businesses.<\/p>\n

    My instinct is that it\u2019s an ego-thing: everyone expects to be the next Saatchi when they start in the industry. And speaking of egos…<\/p>\n

    Name it after yourself<\/h3>\n

    And why not? Make things personal. It\u2019s a way to get a unique name which is also relatively \u2018value free\u2019: a blank canvas that that you can project your USPs against. It can also sound \u2018classy\u2019 – evoking the mythical \u2018Mad Men\u2019 agencies of the past.\"Mad<\/p>\n

    This only works if you have a cool-sounding name, of course.<\/p>\n

    Still, Bartle Bogle Hegarty aren\u2019t doing badly.<\/p>\n

    What\u2019s in a name?<\/h3>\n

    Maybe we should go with what has been proven to work, not what our ‘refined’ tastes rebel against? Perhaps there is something to all those colour\/animal combinations that are around.<\/p>\n

    In business, it\u2019s literally the bottom line that matters. You may be the most talented designer in the world, but if you don\u2019t attract custom, it\u2019s not going to help.<\/p>\n

    So, if you call your company Mauve Macaw Media<\/em> or Crimson Campylobacter Design<\/em> it may well work out. Let me know if it does (I want 10%).<\/p>\n

    What do you think? Do you agree?<\/p>\n

    Are you proud of the successful name you chose, or stuck with a name you regret?<\/p>\n

    Let us know.<\/p>\n\n\n