When the English Department decided to combine several of its publishing efforts and focus attention on a new media-rich online literary journal, the Art & Visual Communication design team jumped at the chance to help them develop names for the project. The Stevenson “clients”— Gerald Majer, the English Department professor overseeing the project and his new journal editor Ben Deigart— visited an upper level design studio class, where we reviewed the rules of brainstorming, handed out white board markers, and asked the groups to, “go crazy.”
Two of the most important brainstorming rules were…
1. Everyone brings something.
2. Defer critical judgment so all ideas can be heard
Within this context, students filled an entire whiteboard with ideas that ranged from descriptive, to whacky, to just plain wrong. Within the list of more than 800 names; however, we’re sure there are a few gems. The next step in the design-thinking process is to build on the list and continue to expand possibilities. From there, the groups will whittle the options down to the top ten names, analyzing the proposals considering both innovation and clarity. Because names can develop meaning over time, we are excited about the open-ended nature of this assignment. We don’t have to be entirely descriptive or obvious. Here are some names from the board…stay tuned for developments.
Muse
Loud
Fit in
Whisper
Grit
Salt
Bacon
Nonlinear
Find me
Oblique
Lost & found
Spektrum
Brainspace
Continue-us
Let it out
.edu
Float
Winner winner chicken dinner
Turnt
Oh please
Clock
Spark
Steve’s kitchen
Phisey
daily flush
Edumacate
Pants
Pixels
Dirt
Unearthed
Word
Letter
Whiteboard
Alphabet
#nohashtag
werk