Designed by __________ is way over used.

Keep a notepad handy in your pocket and for the next two weeks pay extra close attention to what phrases or words really stick in your head when you read/hear them. Once you set your brain the text of coming up with something like this, it's best to put the processor in 'background mode' and wait and see as it can be really tricky trying to 'force' this stuff out.

After a while you will develop a new mental skill of 'listening to your inner listener' -- it's a very subtle, but very valuable skill to cultivate as much as you can.

(Eg? This morning I picked up 'Fetal Position' from this forum. What a potentially powerful combination of just two words. Into my notebook it went! [actually, my Nintendo DS notebook, that's another story])

I'd love a designer to have a name which didn't involve the following:-
create, design/s/ed, studio/s.
BUT which wasn't so totally out there you had no idea what it was about- 'curious echo'. If I could come up with such a name, I would have it for me.
It's a tough one though, because you want to be able to say what you do...Broacher has good ideas.

Sometimes a single word -- and I agree that too many people approach naming with the wrong approach. Literal and descriptive? No. Evocative and engaging? Yes. In fact, I would strongly resist in using the word 'design' in the name at all. Let's face it-- it's because primarily, it's now just another branding term. Now when manufacturers run out of descriptive names for new models they just tack on 'designer' to it, and they're done (after paying lots of bucks to big branding firms first, of course).

Would you rather use a 'Blackberry' or a 'Blueberry'? It took a couple of years and many millions of dollars for the naming professionals to resolve a question like that.

Now some random freebies from my lists:

Un-imaginable

Casual Sects

Litmus

Own Devices

Square Roots

Between Breaths

There There There

Dead Moose on Table

Toybox

Apparently

Attention Shoppers [happens to be the name of the quartet I'm in now]

All Those In Favour

Cocksure

Thumb Rules

Cromulent Works

Stick

Calm Clam Studios

Blast

Beauty in a Wicked World

The Left-Right Center

Holy Mola [as in the giant ocean sunfish]

Involuntary Shudder

Not Pretty {for personal reasons, I really like that one for a design company name!}

Ejecta

Concentrated Ambience

Gradient Shift

Shakin' it Twice

Uncut

Cognitive Bias

Corm

Ninety-Nine Bottles

Sway

Big Dork Studios

Magnitude

Stop Learning

Nuked Coffee

great comments guys. i was kind of hoping to somehow incorporate my name as i'm just starting out, but now that i think about it getting a brand recognized is just as good, if not better, than a name. unfortunately "carsonified" is already taken, which i recommend you guys check out.

Not Pretty - fantastic name Broacher! I may have to use that idea when coming up with something to call my self!

Thanks again

Oh wow, I hear they have a website where you could win like $50 for some of those, Broacher!

some of those evoked a very strong 'damn, i wish i thought of that' reaction in me

Cognitive Bias and Ejecta caught my eye

I have been having the same problem. With my name being Lillian Starr there are numerous directions I could take and I have sketched and written down every possible combination for my name (with and with out the use of 'designs' and 'graphics), I even tried my middle name in there too !!! Finally I settled on using my surname in Gaelic, Réalta (rail-ta). Dunno if I still completely happy with it but hey it's a work in progress.

Maybe try something along those lines ... might work

I'm having the same problem, too. So far I'm stuck on <name> Creative Designs. Which falls into two of the taboo names mentioned here. Others I've thought of already have domains taken, as I'm also testing that as I come up with other ideas. I need something soon though.