I’ve come up with at least 3 names I would be willing to use:
(The) Design Foundry
The Design Works
Hero Design Group
Explanations follow, (if you’re interested).
Design Foundry was originally Design Factory or Washington Design Factory. Someone mentioned that Washington Design Factory reminded them of Burlington Coat Factory. And Design Factory is awful close to the well known Logo Factory. So Factory became Foundry, which was great, because it even better expressed the gritty-hard-work feeling I wanted, and which is in my background. (I grew up 2 blocks from a ball-bearing foundry). Plus…. it sounds really cool to me.
The Design Works sorta just popped into my head, but it has all kinds of good connotations. It’s also got the factory idea, as well as the idea that everything about design is offered… “The Works”. And, slightly marketing-ish… it can be read as the sentence “Design works.”.
Hero Design Group was my ode to indirect names, (a la Starbucks). The ‘design group’ is a somewhat common name extension in this field, blatantly lifted from Serif Design Group and others, to make yourself sound a bit bigger. Hero is a good, short, powerful word. All positive connotations. Goes well with some of my interests. And I think it has a lot of marketing possibilities, (a la “We want to be your hero”)
Meanwhile… I have finally talked to my boss about my plans. It went over remarkably well, considering the audience. And it was kind of important, as most everything else hinged on the outcome.
The announcement that I was going into business for myself was greeted with quiet, and presumably suppressed doubt. Maybe he was sincerely gracious… he certainly never suppressed anything I thought inappropriate before. How like me.
There was also an offer of advice.
He easily agreed to letting me take two repeating projects I have been doing for years. And while I didn’t ‘ask’ to take other clients, we did talk about it. I had no intention of asking, but it cannot hurt to make it known. Likewise, when he asked for a list of clients I wished to take with me, I see no reason not to oblige. If it’s less stressful to give them to me, then why not.
It’s very difficult in there, sometimes. There are times where he bounces around with a child’s joy and energy. There are times where you can see him trying every way he knows how to fight off everything closing in around him. And there are times when he seems too worn out — too tired — to even raise his eyelids. It’s very hard to see someone’s dream — someone’s very nature — to be wearing down on them so harshly, after so long.