New Company Naming Trap: Be Mindful of Font Issues For Internet Era Business Names
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Marcia Yudkin
Apr 23, 2013, 8:50:25 AM4/23/13
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Marcia Yudkin
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Article Title: New Company Naming Trap: Be Mindful of Font Issues For Internet Era Business Names
Author: Marcia Yudkin
Word Count: 589
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=885173&ca=Business
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=885173
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=885173
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
One week in my Marketing Minute newsletter I mentioned the company name �The Muse Is In� in the format of its domain name, TheMuseIsIn.com.
If your email arrives in what�s called a serif font, that would have made perfect sense. The capital I�s in �Is� and �In� would have little horizontal tops and feet on them (these are called serifs), enabling you to recognize them as capital I�s rather than lower-case L�s. However, if your email arrives in what�s called a sans-serif font, you might have been baffled, trying to figure out what a �Musel� was, because the first capital I looked like a lower-case L. And indeed, I received several emails asking me to explain the name.
Prior to mass use of the Internet, this issue did not exist, because companies had nearly complete control of their name and logo in print. Except for when their name appeared in a news article, magazine or directory (and nearly always, serif fonts were used in those settings) companies could decree the color, font, spacing and surrounding graphics of their company name.
No longer is that true. Online and in email, someone�s browser setting or email program often determine the font they are reading in. Additionally, sans-serif fonts are extremely popular both online and in print now.
The same problem cropped up looking at a print ad, where I struggled to read the name of a law firm that looked very much like it ended in I-I-C (two capital I�s, then a C). It took quite a while of staring and pondering to realize that what I took to be two capital I�s were meant as two L�s. Thus the three-letter sequence was an abbreviation for �Limited Liability Corporation,� which commonly appears after professional firm names in place of the corporate signifier �Inc.�
However, here the designer created my bafflement. By stylizing the two L�s so they were in lower case yet the same height as the C following them (which would never happen in any conventional font), she made it difficult for me to recognize that these were L�s rather than I�s. It�s a bad move, however visually pleasing, when you make part of a company name challenging to read.
Although the biggest problem occurs with capital I�s and lower-case L�s, as in the above examples, I have several other real-life instances of font problems in my files.
* Revver - Spelled R-e-v-v-e-r, this looked like R-e-w-e-r to me when I read it online, because the font used did not have any visible space between the two V�s.
* Kijiji - Spelled K-i-j-i-j-i, this looked like a fence rather than a word to me in a sans-serif font which had little distinction between a lower-case I and a lower-case J.
* I9 Sports - This looked to me like the numeral for nineteen, then Sports, yet in an alphabetical list of franchises, it was listed under the letter I rather than under N and therefore intended as the letter I, then the numeral for nine.
To avoid these types of problems with a name, type your top candidates in seven or eight different fonts, both serif and sans-serif, before finalizing your selection. And be ruthless in rejecting an otherwise promising name that will only be understood properly where the company controls exactly how it�s written.
About The Author: Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, which brainstorms catchy tag lines, company names and product names according to the client�s criteria. To generate a compelling new name or tag line, download a free copy of "19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name": http://namedatlast.com/19steps.htm
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=885173
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
Message delivered directly to members of the group:
publish-the...@googlegroups.com
*****************************************************************
Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Marcia Yudkin
*****************************
IMPORTANT - Publication/Reprint Terms
- You have permission to publish this article electronically in free-only publications such as a website or an ezine as long as the bylines are included.
- You are not allowed to use this article for commercial purposes. The article should only be reprinted in a publicly accessible website and not in a members-only commercial site.
- You are not allowed to post/reprint this article in any sites/publications that contains or supports hate, violence, porn and warez or any indecent and illegal sites/publications.
- You are not allowed to use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or SPAM. This article MUST be distributed in an opt-in email list only.
- If you distribute this article in an ezine or newsletter, we ask that you send a copy of the newsletter or ezine that contains the article to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=885173
- If you post this article in a website/forum/blog, ALL links MUST be set to hyperlinks and we ask that you send a copy of the URL where the article is posted to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=885173
- We request that you ask permission from the author if you want to publish this article in print.
The role of iSnare.com is only to distribute this article as part of its Article Distribution feature ( http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php ). iSnare.com does NOT own this article, please respect the author's copyright and this publication/reprint terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please do not reprint or publish this article.
*****************************
Article Title: New Company Naming Trap: Be Mindful of Font Issues For Internet Era Business Names
Author: Marcia Yudkin
Word Count: 589
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=885173&ca=Business
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=885173
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=885173
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
One week in my Marketing Minute newsletter I mentioned the company name �The Muse Is In� in the format of its domain name, TheMuseIsIn.com.
If your email arrives in what�s called a serif font, that would have made perfect sense. The capital I�s in �Is� and �In� would have little horizontal tops and feet on them (these are called serifs), enabling you to recognize them as capital I�s rather than lower-case L�s. However, if your email arrives in what�s called a sans-serif font, you might have been baffled, trying to figure out what a �Musel� was, because the first capital I looked like a lower-case L. And indeed, I received several emails asking me to explain the name.
Prior to mass use of the Internet, this issue did not exist, because companies had nearly complete control of their name and logo in print. Except for when their name appeared in a news article, magazine or directory (and nearly always, serif fonts were used in those settings) companies could decree the color, font, spacing and surrounding graphics of their company name.
No longer is that true. Online and in email, someone�s browser setting or email program often determine the font they are reading in. Additionally, sans-serif fonts are extremely popular both online and in print now.
The same problem cropped up looking at a print ad, where I struggled to read the name of a law firm that looked very much like it ended in I-I-C (two capital I�s, then a C). It took quite a while of staring and pondering to realize that what I took to be two capital I�s were meant as two L�s. Thus the three-letter sequence was an abbreviation for �Limited Liability Corporation,� which commonly appears after professional firm names in place of the corporate signifier �Inc.�
However, here the designer created my bafflement. By stylizing the two L�s so they were in lower case yet the same height as the C following them (which would never happen in any conventional font), she made it difficult for me to recognize that these were L�s rather than I�s. It�s a bad move, however visually pleasing, when you make part of a company name challenging to read.
Although the biggest problem occurs with capital I�s and lower-case L�s, as in the above examples, I have several other real-life instances of font problems in my files.
* Revver - Spelled R-e-v-v-e-r, this looked like R-e-w-e-r to me when I read it online, because the font used did not have any visible space between the two V�s.
* Kijiji - Spelled K-i-j-i-j-i, this looked like a fence rather than a word to me in a sans-serif font which had little distinction between a lower-case I and a lower-case J.
* I9 Sports - This looked to me like the numeral for nineteen, then Sports, yet in an alphabetical list of franchises, it was listed under the letter I rather than under N and therefore intended as the letter I, then the numeral for nine.
To avoid these types of problems with a name, type your top candidates in seven or eight different fonts, both serif and sans-serif, before finalizing your selection. And be ruthless in rejecting an otherwise promising name that will only be understood properly where the company controls exactly how it�s written.
About The Author: Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, which brainstorms catchy tag lines, company names and product names according to the client�s criteria. To generate a compelling new name or tag line, download a free copy of "19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name": http://namedatlast.com/19steps.htm
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=885173
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
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