A decade ago when I decided to come up with a studio name, I hemmed and hawed quite a bit. It's so much easier to offer up a studio/business name help to others rather than one's own. I mean it's like naming your baby.
Unfortunately my studio name branding- choice came before I met my husband-to-be did. At the time of this name-branding exercise the "goddess" word was a big hit in the public consciousness. My work is humorous so I wanted something that relayed the wry wit I'm known for.
I came up with "Smirking Goddess" and later when Mr. Urban waltzed into my life, thus transforming my name into an easy to spell, and remember name– it was too late to switch. My commercial customers already knew "Smirking Goddess Studio™".
The name works well for the tone of the kind of work I produce, but it's hard for others to remember-i.e. "Oh I thought it was Screaming Goddess." "What's the name again Suzanne? "Squawking Goddess?", "Squeamish Goddess?".
And the name didn't quite fit the commercial illustration arena I was soon to venture into: Children's book illustration.
Today it still fits the tone of my gallery work, but I've since referred to myself as: Suzanne Urban Designs or Suzanne Urban Designs • Smirking Goddess™ Studio.
I made the change where I registered my domain name for my blog and website so both names will direct people to my online sites.
When naming your studio I suggest ALWAYS using your name-unless you have a difficult name to remember/ spell or pronounce. Then select a name that reflects the kind of work you create ex: plein-airstudio.com or Halloweenmoonart.com.
In other words make it easy for buyers to find you!
If you don't, you're sunk.
This follows through with artists who sell on eBay and ETSY. I kept my selling ID consistent: Suzanne.artist on eBay and on ETSY: suzanneartist (Etsy doesn't allow periods or dashes in shop name). Yes I wish I made it SuzanneUrbanArt for both-but ye live and ye learn. AND keep your blog name consistent too! Yes, I made this mistake as well too.
Names can date you too. I'm seeing some artists switch from using the term "prim" in their blog/studio name. I guess the word "prim" is out but "Primitives" is considered still in vogue as far as I can surmise. It also may mean the artist is developing a new non-prim style-so keep in mind that your name should reflect you and not the niche market you're selling in unless you plan to stay within that market for the long haul. And give dignity to your work, don't refer to it as "stuff" or "critters" or "things" these words make my skin crawl especially when I see it attached to a truly talented artist.
This is all hard to foresee, I know, and ask for friends/family/buyers for input when branding your studio/website/blog name. Some artists create a name after their niche market or after something very dear to their heart which influenced their decision to become an artist-the latter can make for an interesting, memorable story on your blog and website.
As a co-leader of a national artist group: (www.AmericanHolidayArtists.com), I often have to remind artist members to put their name on their eBay About Me page and their ETSY Profile-this is often just an oversight, and not because they're a member of the witness protection program.
But I feel letting your buyers know who you are gives them a warm and fuzzy, they know whom they're buying the art from, not some anonymous person.
Lastly, when Fairy, Faery, Faerie art hit the world big, many creatives were grabbing polymer clay off store shelves and sculpting little winged beings to sell online.
And many of these people came up with the hoakiest names for their website/blog/seller ID. I hate to sound harsh, but if writing isn't your forté ask for help in coming up with a name. And don't confine yourself to one subject matter i.e. Fairies, as you might move on to sculpting other work in the future.
It's been my observation the more romantically dramatic a studio name, the poorer the quality of art featured. It's almost like the artist wants the studio name to compensate for their earlier not-so strong pieces.
So "Whispering Softly in Wee Fairy Voices Studio or
"The Hollowed Glen of Imaginative Beings" just doesn't cut it for me, nor for buyers who certainly can't remember all that.
Keep it simple, keep it direct, keep it authentic, and they will find YOU.
About this post: ©2009 Suzanne Urban-all rights reserved.
Hi Suzanne, great comments! I think I have created myself a problem by using cathy and catherine in my ID's. I should have picked just one, huh.
Thanks for your insightful thoughts you so generously share.
Posted by: Catherine Darling | June 05, 2009 at 12:11 PM