Coming up with a new brand’s name and imagery is hard work. Even though I’ve been dreaming of starting my own firm for years, and had a grasp of the benefits I could offer clients, I didn't have a good name for the idea.  Here are the steps I took to craft my brand’s name and logo:

1) Research what “good” look like

I read books and articles on branding. I chose a dozen brands I admire whose names and logos resonated with me and then cataloged the reasons why.   For me, these elements were most important:

• Principled companies
• Name and logo elicited joy 
• Products I love
• Simple graphics (my preference)
• Name flexible enough to allow for growth (an umbrella big enough for sub-brands in the same or different category)

2) Decide which principles should be incorporated

For illuminim, we follow 3 core principles (detailed in About Us):

• We are customer-centric.
• We are future focused.
• We believe in people.

 3) Explore words that describe or indicate mission and vision

I had pages of ideas filled with dozens of post-it notes.  The one word that rose to the top was insight.  I couldn’t describe my vision without it.  I like alliteration and admire it when used well, so I was leaning heavily toward using a group of words beginning with i. 

Lower case i is my favorite letter for very good reasons:

• It is the vowel which ensures things are finished and completed correctly, i.e. “when i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.” 
• It allows you to express yourself, as most 5th grade girls will attest when they choose whether they are the dot-, circle-, smiley-, or heart -above-the-i type. 
• Finally, lower case i reminds me of the Fisher Price Little People of my youth. Some of you know exactly what I mean, others will need to Google “Vintage Fisher Price Little People,” because the new ones have arms.

4) Get input to narrow down options

After a few rounds of input from family and friends, I had narrowed down options.  Next, I hired a branding design expert. We focused in on a few powerful words: illuminate (which helps people see clearly), insight (which helps people see differently), and implement (doing what needs to be done). However, my expert did not think any of the options I was considering were quite right as the three words together were too long and complex for a name.  I slept on their advice. 

When I woke, I had an idea to combine the first syllables of my words to create a single, unique name, like this: