Naming your design business can be tough. After all, once you decide on a name you should probably stick with it. Your business name will affect how potential clients perceive you, how well past clients will remember, and what kind of clients you get.

So how can you find a design business name that will bring you more clients? Below, you’ll find a few tips to creating a killer business name.

Consider your clients’ previous schemas

In Made to Stick by the Heath brothers they talk about the importance of considering peoples’ previous schemas when trying to come up with something memorable (like a business name).

Schemas are perceptions, attitudes, biases, or feelings about a certain word or thought.

Most people (including your potential design clients) already have schemas about certain words and phrases, and you can either use this fact to your advantage or you can kill your chances of being hired.

Take the following design business name for example:

Juvenile Design Company

What did you think of when you read the business name above? Perhaps you picture immature or underdeveloped designs – something you certainly don’t want for your business.

Maybe you pictured juvenile crime – more negative connotations.

But what was this design business trying to convey when naming their company? All they wanted people to know is that their group of designers is young, original, and willing to take risks – admirable qualities in a design agency.

Consider the schemas your potential clients may already have and avoid the negative ones while using the positive ones to your advantage.

Make your objectives clear

While this tip can be achieved with a solid tag line for your design business, it may be useful to include your objectives in your design business’ name.

Take for example the following business name:

Axle 73

While it may be original and have some sort of creative edge to it, it’s hard for potential clients to know what the business is about. Perhaps the following change would bring this business more clients:

Axle 73: Hand-crafted quality web sites

Now, there’s no doubt in your mind what this company specializes is. They make quality web sites from scratch. If your clients is scouring the internet for web designers, they’re more likely to take a look at you now.

Make your name memorable and easy to spell

Lastly, you need to make your design business name memorable and easy to spell. Why? Because a good majority of your clients should be referrals from previous clients.

If your past clients can’t remember or spell your design business’ name, how are they going to recommend you to their colleagues and friends?

The perfect design business name

So what’s the perfect design business name? One that takes advantage of your potential clients’ schemas, one that describes what kind of work you do, and one that’s easy to remember and even spell.

What’s your design business’ name? Share your insights and thoughts by leaving a comment on this post.