Choosing a Business Name With a Story

Choosing the right name for your business is essential—but it’s more than coming up with words that sound right. The strongest brands have names that tell a story. A great name is more than a label, but rather a bold statement that tells the world who you are. Choosing a business name with a story is the key to ensuring that your target customers understand who you are!

Judy Ransford came to us because she needed a new name for her line of clothing for tween girls. Though it previously operated as Antelope Flats, the brand was getting ready to launch big this fall, and Judy wanted a name that truly encompassed her brand:

which is celebrating tweens, their connection with family and friends, their optimistic outlook, and having fun and building confidence with fashion.

Naming a business so that it appeals to its target customers

Inspired by Judy’s energy (and my own nostalgia for the tween years), I was thrilled to brainstorm names for her. I especially loved how the fleeting passage of time was such an integral part of her brand. Girls ages 9-12 (as well as their moms) were the target audience, and these years kept resonating with me as such a special era in a tween’s life, full of innocence, free-spiritedness, fun, and curiosity. For Judy’s first round of names, I went with a creative direction focused on celebrating time and came up with concepts like Eternal May, Present Noon, and 5 Junes.

Almost immediately, Judy responded that she was in love with 5 Junes. For her, it evoked the right emotional tone, and for her 10-year-old daughter, it sounded cool and trendy. As a bonus, it was also my personal favorite, meant to represent the 5 spring and summer seasons a girl experiences from ages 9 to 12, bursting with life.

Even though this was only the first round of names, Judy knew 5 Junes was the right fit—and when you know, you know!

The only question now was: 5 Junes or Five Junes? Our designer Christine popped in with an excellent suggestion:

“5 over five will be more appealing to the tween audience and more memorable for the moms. I also love the design possibilities. (We can achieve a sense of symmetry even without two words of nearly equal length.)”

Designing a modern, stylish logo and identity

As we moved on to the visual storytelling of the brand, Judy’s input was on-point and very clearly communicated. She wanted something modern and clean, with an edge.

“The edge could be a dash of folksy/rustic, or maybe a rough/grungy twist. I want the logo to communicate to the mom that 5 Junes is a stylish, upscale brand and to communicate to the girl that it is a cool brand, in tune with what’s fashionable in her age group and for teens. I’m drawn to textures like denim, linen, rusted metal, distressed wood, or the night sky.”

After studying Judy’s Pinterest boards for the brand and taking into consideration her style in terms of colors, typography, and textures, Christine submitted five original logo concepts. All were in Black and White in order to keep the focus on the design and not color, which comes later in the process.

Concept number 1, featuring an ornate 5 with a woodgrain pattern and a simple sans serif font to offset it, captured everything Judy had hoped for: the modernity and aesthetic of the clothes, combined with a fun spirit that’s not too feminine but still playful and youthful. After some slight tweaking in subsequent design rounds that included the addition of color and a new shade for the wood grain elements, the new 5 Junes logo was finalized. Christine could now incorporate this new identity into the line’s necessary branding materials, such as business cards, letterheads, and hang tags for the clothes. From start to finish, the new name and brand told a story that is full of fun, energy, and enthusiasm—just like a 5 Junes tween.

Ready to start telling your story? Contact us to begin discovering (and embracing) your brand’s unique identity with the right name and imagery.