Trouble brainstorming logo ideas?

Looks like you first need to come up with a name for the company. But before you can start thinking about that, you should write for yourself a branding / naming brief. You can find one here.

To brainstorm for names you can use the following approaches:

  • First of all write down all the words that are related to the subject building on the brief. Synonyms, related concepts, etc
  • Try a mash-up of words. Example: Lens + Mastering = MasterLens
  • Get inspired by culture. Example: Nidaba is the god of learning: nidaba.photo
  • Foreign languages. Especially latin. Example: Picha.io (image for swahili)
  • Acronyms: LPO for Learn Photography Online
  • Use the business owner’s name: Noelle’s Photography School
  • Geographic location: Chicago Photo Classes
  • Describe the business: Photoclass247
  • Change spelling: Fotoclass
  • Appeal to benefit: BestImage
  • Talk about core values: StopTheTime
  • Pick a related word: Aperture Photo School
  • Think of other ways to brainstorm for words, the possibilities are endless

Come up with at least 50-100 ideas, then put them into a spreadsheet and add evaluate all of them one by one by the following criteria (you can add more):

  • Short enough?
  • Easy to remember?
  • Is domain available?
  • Descriptive?
  • Is it different enough from competition?
  • Etc. whatever fits your use case

Then assign a point or two (if important) to each, and then you add them up to get a total score for each name. This is a long and tedious exercise, but at the end you will be able to see the top 3-4 names. At this point you can work with each if you have such freedoms and see which one works best for the new identity.

Good luck!