Where to begin?
After deciding to go at it alone or start a new business with some partners, the issue of what to call the business comes up. Will mostly stick with the decisions we made in coming up with MAKERS DESIGN, but other things to be considered when deciding on a name will be covered as well, also a few alternates that were considered along the way.
Once the decision was made to start a new company, the question of what to name it came up. The most obvious answer and usual fall back is to name the company after yourself or group of selves as many have done before; Jones & Smith Architecture, Smith & Associates, Smith, Jones, & Walker Architecture Services, etc. Though this is the easiest we did not want to establish that those persons with those last names would be the only ones allowed to advance or reap the most from the company. Also if a client does not get direct contact with a name partner for whatever reason, they do not feel slighted or neglected. All members would be entrusted to give the same level of attention to each client and rely on others in the business for support on each project.
So no actual names to be in the name, what about initials of the sole owner or group of partners? It all depends on the letters, how it sounds, and how others will perceive the name. My last name is Bryant, so B Architecture, B Architecture + Design, B&A, B3 Architecture. B sounds like second choice and letters on there own do not carry much weight. It’s great if you are established and want to shorten your companies name, but should probably at least have a desciptor as to what B&A does in the title. Especially if your putting together random letters from multiple partners, BST Architecture, BeST Architecture, why not just go with Best and not be cute about it. Then there are initials for the full name which area W.E.B., so WEB Architecture or WEB Design, leads to a different area of design and architecture not related to buildings or structures, with a lot of phone calls about helping others with a website.
So no actual names, no random initials joined together (till maybe later). So lets put together a list of words and phrases that represents what we want to do, will do, etc. This can even be a problem specifically for architecture or design firms because unlike other businesses there can be a misunderstanding of what you do. A local business is Rhino Coffee, you immediately assume they make and/or sell coffee or coffee products. Alright Rhino Design, Rhino Architecture, well there is software already named that. You put the word Design or Architecture at the end of a word or words and it tends to imply that specifically is what you design and create, same a the W.E.B. example earlier. So random words can backfire or at least they need have meaning, a story as to why you chose it pt them.
Another hurdle before getting to why MAKERS, deciding to put any location identification in the name, Louisiana Design, NWLA Architects, 318 Design Group, all aren’t bad but do you only do southern style architecture work, region specific, do you ever plan to grow outside this area, do you want to limit yourself to this one location? What if you move, relocate, try to get work in other areas? Its just odd how you can name a clothing label or food/drink brand after the area its from and that’s a marketing point, but other businesses limits their appeal. Louisiana Contractors sounds like you wouldn’t do work in any other state, finding a good name is that hits everything you want to do, everything you want to be, and not alienate any potential clients with being too clever or too obscure.
So when asked why the name MAKERS DESIGN, its best explained as a coming together of a series of ideas, methods, and beliefs. In developing the what we wanted to be and do, a fundamental idea was that the practice of architecture and the design process should be about creating, making things, and being innovative. Trying to do things better and taking the time to explore better options. Leading to the makers vs. managers method, which boils down to that creative professions and endeavors require time for iterations, processing, and experimentation. Blocks of time dedicated to a project, rather than cranking out repetitive work as quickly as possible. Some projects may require simply that and if that is what the client ultimately wants then we will do out best to inspire other possibilities, better layouts, other options that could make the project better for everyone.
There were also some other influences, videos of other professionals discussing why they started on their own, books about what to be considering when starting a business, naming a business. All these things at some point pointed to making, crafting, creating things. You can’t escape the other parts of business, paperwork, invoicing, meetings, marketing, but we wanted to stay rooted with the making and creating process. It is what we enjoyed most about the process and what we wanted to be the center of our methods of design.
This is just our current mind set of where we would like to go and what we would like to do, it like the profession itself is constantly evolving.
W.E.B.