What's in a name?

Sometimes I get asked ‘what’s the story behind the name psyborg®’ and what does it actually mean so I thought I’d take a little time to put it down here.

I came up with the name whilst studying a BA of Design in my 3rd year back in 2000. I was brainstorming a bunch of names for an assignment where we had to design our own business cards for our own fictional design studio.

After vigorous brainstorming with nothing that really clicked, I woke up in the middle of the night and the term ‘psyborg’ just came to me.

Sounds a bit bullshit right, but from my experience with the design process and in hindsight I find that you need to research and brainstorm a problem, flood your brain with potential and then have some faith to let it go allowing your mind to come back to you when it’s ready. I think that is what happened here and I think we have all experienced this when tackling a problem.

I had pondered many names for days and had written pages full of potential names which all did not fit, until I woke up with the name and it was just right! I did not know it was just right, just because of the name itself but more so because I could see it as a brand that represented so much and therefore could serve me in the future. It was more of a vision then just a name.

If I think about the anatomy of this name so as to break it down it worked for me because of the combination between ‘psy’ and ‘borg’ creating it’s own uniqueness and synergy.

For one I was dating a psychology student at the time (now my wife whom is a Clinical Psychologist) and I was discovering and learning about the power of psychology. As psychology is in reference to psyche & the mind this would perfectly link to thinking analytically and/or creatively which one needs to harness in order to be a designer and a business operator.

Furthermore, when people think of a cyborg, they think of a part man, part machine, humanoid robot so I have used that metaphor to my brands advantage to associate my brand with part mind, part machine… part thinker, part worker… part creative, part technician… part designer, part engineer… right brain, left brain… etc

So my slogan ‘part mind | part machine’ complimented the ‘cy’ from cyborg, a well known character in pop culture with references to the future, innovation and a human relationship with computers that we are all living through.

The ‘borg’ part was a little easier to rationalise, it obviously came from my surname so it worked to personalise the brand whilst also being useful from a corporate point of view as the business grows so as to still hold roots.

Looking back I think this name stuck because the synergy that was created when these two words were put together was greater than the sum of their parts and I think we all recognise this when we are lucky enough to come across it. I had a sense that I could leverage it’s meaning into the future which is what I have been doing. The rest is history, really as it has served me well and even though it’s been live for almost 12 years, I can still see even more potential as fantastic new opportunities keep coming my way.

In many ways this is the power of a name in action that more importantly is positioned more like a vision which becomes a brand.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this, so let me know!

I really do enjoy getting feedback so please let me know your thoughts on this or any of my articles in the comments field or on social media below.

Cheers Daniel