Adunate Word & Design

choosing a business name

Who Owns a Name?

Last week The Cap Times ran an interesting story titled ‘We Are A People.’ It’s multifaceted to say the least and I was surprised it didn’t evoke more conversation.

The story talks about Kickapoo Coffee, a fair trade, organic roaster from southwestern Wisconsin. But first, let’s explore a bit of geography for those unfamiliar with this part of our state. Kickapoo is the name of a 126-mile river winding through a unique bioregion known as the Driftless Area. Both the river and the region are beloved, like really beloved, by those who live there and those who visit (myself included). Naturally every other business and its offshoot has incorporated Kickapoo into its name. And why not? Why not celebrate the land where your business has its roots, right?

Except Kickapoo is also a group of people. They’re a sovereign Indian nation who once lived in this area—before they were forcibly removed, that is— and the Kickapoo River was, in fact, named after them. This brings us the question of who owns a name.

And the subject of Kickapoo Coffee.

Last year Kickapoo Coffee decided the Kickapoo name was not theirs to take and they announced they were rebranding the business. “The decision to use their name, and to continue to roast under it, was an act of appropriation,” said co-owners TJ Semanchin and Caleb Nicholes. “In an effort to right that wrong, we have decided to change our name.”

How Should One Feel?

White privileged woman that I am, it’s hard to know what to think about this. I’m ashamed that throughout history those of European descent have mistreated indigenous people everywhere. I feel it’s unconscionable that it continues today. Really, who do we think we are?

Yet, I grew up singing, “I’m from Owosso, down where the Shiawassee flows.” My hometown is named after Chief Wasso of the Ojibwe tribe (also known as Shiawassee and Wan-dor-gon-ing Indians). It’s beside the Shiawassee River, in Shiawassee County, which is named from an Ojibwe word meaning “sparkling waters.” It’s within the state of Michigan, also named from an Ojibwe word meaning “large water.” Being born and raised in Owosso, can I claim a regional pride the same way Kickapoogians do in Wisconsin? At what point does a heritage become one’s own?

Business and Legal Considerations

Choosing a business name can be hard. Changing a business name is even harder (think mega-expensive and time consuming). Yes, there are the usual considerations like descriptiveness, emotional connection, and domain availability. Add cultural awareness to that list and it definitely becomes a lot to think about.

“Indigenous rights is a really interesting aspect of intellectual property law. It impacts copyright, trademark, and patent law,” said attorney Erin Ogden in her comment to the story.

Your Thoughts?

Some have called Kickapoo Coffee’s rebrand a PR ploy. Others say they’re conceding to a trendy need to absolve ourselves of the guilt our white forefathers laid upon us. Still others applaud Kickapoo Coffee for showing cultural sensitivity and respect to others.

As I said, this is multifaceted. What do you think?

Choosing a Business Name (and other brainstorming activities)

I love brainstorming. I recently met with a client who’s starting a new business and together we went through the systemized process of brainstorming a name.

Now, there’s tons of information online about business names. Simply google “how to choose a business name” and you’ll be inundated with how-to sites. Rather than rehash all that, let’s discuss the brainstorming process itself. It’s a process graphic designers, engineers and problem-solvers everywhere use and it’s very effective no matter what project they’re doing.

Brainstorming—what is it, anyway?

Wikipedia defines it as a “group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem.”

In her book “Idea Revolution,” author Clare Warmke describes it more creatively: “The magic of the ideation process (brainstorming) is that you start in a familiar place, but then take a twisting, turning path to a new destination.”

The photo above is a perfect illustration. It’s of my son, a brainstormer himself, who always leads me on twisted paths to new and interesting places.

Anyway, back to the process. Each creative follows it in different ways. I’m going to guide you through what’s most effective for me.

Open the Right Brain

The right side of the brain is often considered the generator of creativity. While some people are naturally more right-brained than others, sometimes we just need a little nudge to open the door. I like to start with a brain-opening activity because it breaks the ice and gets everyone going with broadened thinking.

Sometimes a brain opener can be something as simple as food and conversation. The carbohydrates of a whole wheat sandwich or the omega-3’s in a handful of nuts activate our creativity. I once hosted a brainstorming group of women and served cheese, chocolate and wine—now that was a very productive session!

Brain openers can also be activity-oriented. I’ve asked clients to fold a piece of paper into a shape related to their business. I’ve heard of designers leading visual “tours” of a specific place and asking clients to describe things they encounter with each of their senses. Concept artist Andrew Bosley created a fun tool called, of course, the Brainstormer. With this, you spin the pinwheel and it gives a random noun, adjective and story conflict. The challenge is to create an image or story using all three elements.

Define the Problem

Once everyone has relaxed and opened their minds to creative thinking, it’s then time to discuss the problem at hand. By problem, I mean challenge. In the case of my client, our challenge was to come up with a name for his new business.

No matter what the project is, I like to walk my clients through a series of self-examining questions. These are the questions I use to draft a creative brief. What is your business? What do you do? Who is your target market? What are their demographics? What are your qualities? What are your obstacles? What image would you like to convey? And so on…

Discussing these questions helps both clients and me see the full picture. As clients talk, key words pop up. I write these down for later use.

Start a List

The key words I’ve noted are the start of what I call my “concept list.” This is a list of random words related to the project. They build upon one another and they formulate ideas. At this stage of brainstorming, I engage the clients in further developing this list.

Let’s use my client as an example.

My client is starting a home maintenance business. I instructed each member of the committee to write down ten words they associate with home maintenance and renovation. I told them to do this quickly and think off the top of their heads.

We then discussed each group of ten words. Inevitably, as we did this more words came to mind and we wrote them down. We branched off from certain words and wrote sub words—for example, from paint we got “coat, brush, tint, varnish.” From professional, we got “master, lead guy, prime, perfect,” and so on. We listed nouns, verbs and adjectives. We listed positive traits and geographical names. We even listed outrageous words we’d never consider, because, after all, when brainstorming, there are no bad ideas.

Formulate Solutions

Words, words, words! By now a concept list easily consists of 50-100 words. Maybe more, because creativity is like a muscle—the more we use it, the more it develops.

This is the time solutions to the problem really come to light. A graphic designer begins drawing thumbnail ideas for a logo…an engineer drafts concepts for a new product…and we began putting words together for my client’s business name. And just like creatives draw many, many concepts, we listed many, many names.

The goal, when concluding my client’s brainstorming session, was to have a list of 100 names. We accomplished that, plus more (including a bit of mental exhaustion, which is common).

My client took over from there. He researched the availability of domain names. He polled family and friends for their opinions. He did a super job of thoroughly researching his market.

So congratulations to Mastercoat Home Renewal—Big Bend, Wisconsin’s latest in home maintenance! Watch for more coming from this top quality business!

Need help with your business identity and marketing? Hire me for successful brainstorming ideas and help with implementing them.

What’s With the Name?

So, what is with my business name?

I admit the name Adunate (ä-doo-NÄ-tay) is a bit foreign. And yes, it’s usually mispronounced and draws a few questions. But that’s okay. It offers me a great opportunity to explain its concept and the work I do for my customers.

Adunate is Latin for “unite, or integrate” (for all you linguistics out there, it’s actually the imperative tense of the verb adunare). Successful visual communication integrates both words and design, and as a writer and graphic designer I specialize in both. I unite words and design for all your communication needs.

Adunate works for other reasons as well. Like, it puts me up front in the alphabetical listings. And adunate.com was an available URL—a major feat nowadays. And finally, after all these years, I get to use the Latin I studied in high school!

Adunate.

ä-doo-NÄ-tay.

Adunate: Uniting words and design for all your communication needs