[Ed. - updated with new links, grammar fixes, and a dose of humble pie. Apologies to those that I may have carelessly forgotten to credit.]

Many thanks to the kind folks at Igor and Eat My Words for hosting a great party with dozens of namers from around the world. Okay, not really the world, but at least all over North America. Or more precisely the United States and Canada. Well, it was one guy from Canada, one guy from DC, and everyone else was from the Bay Area. Still, though, it was very impressive.

Really! (Investing $2000+ for entertaining a room full of your primary competitors in the industry is no small thing, either. If it had been at Stokefire's pad we'd have had party ice and a few footlong subs.)

Thanks specifically to Alexandra Watkins, Steve Manning, and Nancy Friedman for their efforts in hosting, funding, and organizing the event. What started out as six people at a bar turned into a wonderful industry-wide event with dozens of people making new connections.

Unfortunately the pictures I took are too big for my server, so I'll have to wait until I get back home next week to edit and post them. Check back Tuesday-ish for the goods. Or you can click here for Alexandra's (our party-pad hostess) pix. She seems to have captured many of the same shots I did.

Pretty amazing how many different types of businesses are involved in naming. Lots of copywriters, branding agencies, marketers, list-farms, and full service advertisers. There were a couple businesses that were strikingly similar to what we do at Stokefire.

As for the reaction to my persistant mouthing-off on this blog about the lack of industry representation I'd say the response was a cautious interest. There's a little bit of disagreement as to what naming is and how it might relate to the larger industries of graphic design, advertising, marketing, and identity development. I heard quite a few folks advocate joining AIGA to further our cause. Perhaps starting up a focus group within their organization.

I guess I'm a little wary of that path since I believe that traditionally a name flows from a core identity more readily than it does from a sense of design. The design would traditionally flow from the same place the name does. The question for me is whether we want verbal branding, naming, and identity development to be supplicant to the visual aspects. That's something I strongly disagree with. Both the name and design are supplicant to the identity/strategy of the company.

I've never developed a name after the logo and design have been set and before the identity has been developed. It's backasswards. Ain't it?

The topic came up quite a few times and has me wondering a few things:

1. Is there enough interest in the concept of a group that represents namers to support our own organization? Are there enough of us to do it? I've gotten interest from about a dozen companies and a handful of freelancers - but no one is committed to it yet.
2. Is there a stronger call to create an organization dedicated to the creation of identities rather than names - and in this way enable the participation of partner fields such as design, scent, colors, and the rest of the pieces that are involved in the creation of strong identities...
3. How will an organization that represents namers handle the various approaches (sometimes conflicting) to name generation and evaluation? Can an organization meant to raise the profile of an industry do so without demeaning some of its constituents?

That's it. I'm going to try to enjoy the rest of my pseudo-vacation with my wife. Can't believe I have the good fortune to be in sunny San Francisco while DC is under inches of ice and snow.

I think I'm going to ditch my light sweater for a long-sleeved tee. (I know you all miss me back there. Admit it.)

Cheers!

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925 (but the office is snowed in, so no one is going to answer the phone today.)