VARIOUS
Names + Taglines
Two of my favorite assignments: Name something and come up with a tagline. It's writing in its purest form, distilled to a single word or phrase. I can spend hours inside the dictionary, tracing etymologies—and I invariably lie awake in the middle of the night, fiddling with syllables in my head.
Names
I worried that it might be a no-brainer. Instead, the client thought it was perfect. It's an acronym built from the organization's purpose while also evoking it. After all, "navigation" is a highly relevant word when talking about networking self-driving cars.
How do you name an organization that teaches both violence prevention and self-defense? With a word that speaks to the curriculum for deescalating conflict before it turns violent—and to the conviction it gives people to fight back if they're physically attacked.
For a company that supports startups in developing Internet of Things devices, the options were nearly endless. The problem? The intersection of technology and invention was well-traveled territory. We chose a name that invokes freshness and inspiration.
Taglines
Watercolor artist Lawrence Yang has a unique way of seeing the world. When he asked me to capture his point of view in a tagline, I was determined to find something that was also slightly askew.
Man up.
There was a short-lived company that made shoes with invisible lifts for men who wanted to appear taller. Alas, that company is no more.
Follow the user.
Become the leader.
I wrote this for a user-analytics platform for product development teams. The idea is that by closely analyzing user behavior within their apps, businesses can consistently improve those apps.
Beating the pants
off the beaten path.
A platform for unique, locally sourced travel experiences was looking for an attention-getting way to convey their cheeky way of doing things.
When life comes
to school, school comes to life.
A K-12 program that integrates internships with curriculum ended up adopting only the first half of this tagline—"Life comes to school"—and I understand that choice. But I like this longer version.
Chow down,
chowhound.
Full disclosure: My client, a daily food newsletter, didn't select this tagline. But I wish they had. I find it so cheering and memorable, I often say it to my husband before a meal.
Welcome back
to your life.
I wrote this for an orthopedic surgeon's office, and it pairs with the tagline I wrote for their sports division: Welcome back to the game. It invites patients to see past their current injury to better things.