Settle a Marital Dispute!!!

[carseasoncity]

I posted this in the business section too, but I want as much help as I can get. My husband and I can't agree on a business name. I like ArteBella Photography(beautiful art in Italian), but he thinks I should go with just Bella Photography. My problem is that name has already been used... a lot. Does ArteBella sound okay or is my husband right? :)

Also, I've never created a business card and I'd like ideas on how I can improve it. Obviously I will need to change the name and logo if ArteBella doesn't go over. Thanks for any help or comments.
Brandi

[crn3371]

I like the layout of the business card. If you like the name, then go with it. Besides, the A/B makes for a nice looking logo.

[Bill Boehme]

If Bella is already being used in your area, then they may give you static over the name ArteBella. Why not use your last name instead? Name recognition for a photographer is always a very good thing and I think is better than just the name of a studio where someone would not be assured that they would get the same photographer for repeat business. I know that in my local community, the top photographers use their names for the business name and aviod the "Mill" names.

[20droger]

I like ArteBella over Bella if you wish a studio name separate from your own name.

But, I have to agree with Bill. Your own name would stand out as a photographer proud of her work and willing to stand behind it.

Besides, you are blessed with a first-class name. "Brandi Priester, Photographer" is distinctive, classy, and memorable. All highly desirable traits.

Whatever name you choose, I encourage you to get a unique email provider, and have it in your own name if possible. The use of "hotmail.com," a notorious freemail provider, does not instill confidence.

[coreypolis]

Bella photography is a very well established business and advertieses heavily on google. I think that would be a huge mistake. I don't neccessarily like the other option, but its still better than trying to compete

[20DNewbie]

Roger beat me to it about the hotmail account.

Edit: I also think he's spot on with the name bit.

[cosworth]

ArteBella over Bella anyday.

And yes, ditch the hotmail account. Nothing says weekend warrior like a hotmail account on a business card. You can spend a whopping $3 a month on hosting that comes with email.

I also notice a lack of a website. I don't think I can name a professional photographer without one. People want to see your work and judge you accordingly. Placate them with outstanding online images.

[Anke]

Yeah ArteBella wins for me. Anyway, you're his wife, who says he gets a say? :D

[SkipD]

I agree with three suggestions above - use your own name as the business name, get rid of the Hotmail account, and have a web site that at least shows off samples of your work and/or better describes what you do.

One other suggestion - your phone numbers would look better to me if you used a more conventional format for them such as (573) 783-3868. Also, if you are putting two numbers there, identify what each is for. Otherwise, just have one phone number.

[carseasoncity]

Thanks for all the comments so far. I agree that I should probably go with my name, but I hate it! That may sound childish, but I just don't think it sounds right, and the initials would be BP as in the gas station. My middle name is Nichole, so that's not a big help. Maybe I should just go with Priester Photography. It just sounds so boring to me.

I am working on a website right now, and I don't plan on using that e-mail account, but I needed something to fill in the space on the card to see what it looked like.

Any more suggestions on the name part would be great. Thanks!
Brandi

[AB8ND]

ArteBella for sure, sounds and looks classier. And it will be closer to the top in a yellow pages ad.

Jack

[gjl711]

AB Photography has a nice roll to it and flows nicely. And I have a different view point about using ones name in any business. It always seemed to me that a business name based on the owners name gave an impression of a small single owner shop. Like Billy-Joe Bob’s Garage. Good name, but you know that Billy-Joe is there day after day and it’s his garage. Just doesn’t seem to have the potential to expand into a big business if it ever gets really successful.

[20droger]

Two further suggestions...

Do a careful search on ArteBella or any other name before you use it (if you use it). A quick google of "artebella photography" turned up quite a lot of entries, many in the U.S. You don't want to run afoul of a hyper-litigeous company who may have trademarks the name.

Secondly, while I agree with gjl711 that using your personal name as a company name is indicative of a one-person shop; I disagree with the analysis.

"Billy-Joe Bob's Garage" does indeed suggest that all work is done, or at least supervised, by Billy-Joe Bob himself. If Billy-Joe Bob does good work, this is a very great asset. By word of mouth alone, people will seek out Billy-Joe Bob because they know he will personally do or supervise the work, and they have confidence that the work will be done right.

The same applies to a photographer. If a photographer does primo work, it is the photographer, as an individual, that people will seek out, not the studio per se. A one-person shop that does good work is often more to be desired than a large studio with many different photographers (producing many different quailites of product), and where a customer may not know which photographer will be assigned to his/her shoot.

The trick, of course, it to always do excellent work.

And believe me, I fully understand the "hating your name" part. My first name is René. For almost all of my youth I had to live with the consequences of that name: the incessant misspelling; the perpetual mispronounciation; and the very painful fact that in dear old La Grenada Elementary school there were three students with that name--the other two were girls. My mother would say, "It's a beutiful French name." And so it is. But we lived in southern California, not beautiful France. I learned that, when others made fun of my name, I got the best response disussing it with them while they were horizontal. This was not good, for me or them.

Now, of course, I'm so old I no longer care. Call me whatever you want.

I think your name is beautiful and melodious, but I fully appreciate your feelings on the matter. What you have to decide is if you hate your name enough to want to ignore any benefit it may bring commercially. Only you can make that decision.

Best of all possible luck to you.

[convergent]

I like the ArteBella better than just Bella. Whether you use that, or your own name, make sure that you use a name that you can get a domain name to go with. That will also solve your hotmail problem. At this stage, I would change the name of your company if you needed to in order to have it match a domain. How easy it is for someone to find you when your companyname.com is the web address... how crazy it is when they have to go hunting, or find something else at companyname.com that isn't you.

The business cards look fine. As for the phone numbers xxx.xxx.xxxx, that is actually a pretty modern and hi-tech way to do it. Its very common in the computer industry, so I'd not worry about trying to match traditional (xxx) xxx-xxxx formats.

[cosworth]

One small point. Using your ENTIRE name implies small time. My website is small time. Using just your last name can imply anything. Hilton Hotels?

http://www.artebellaphotography.com is not taken. Neither is http://www.priesterphotography.com I suggest buying them asap.

[jacobsen1]

Also incorporate something photographic into the business card. I'd say something like aperture blades into the AB logo or something to really push the graphical design, and hammer home you're in photography visually w/o being cheesy.

Ben

[carseasoncity]

I think I'm going to go with Priester Photography based on all of the opinions I've recieved on this forum.
I would like to incorporate something photographic into the logo if anyone has any ideas I'd be happy to hear them. I was thinking of something along the lines of an aperture ring, but I have no idea how to go about creating one. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks for all the input!
Brandi

[pos]

Good choice using your name, I also like using your whole name BRANDI PRIESTER. It flows so good together. pos

[carseasoncity]

Here's the new business card with the new name. I have absolutely no experience with graphic arts, so please let me know what you think about the card. I'm not sure about the film strip, but I can't come up with a decent logo with just the letter P. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Brandi

[20droger]

I think it's excellent as is!

The film strip graphic is very good.

Sure, it's a digital world nowadays, but film is still the defining item of photography to most people's subconscious. "Camera" means "film camera." That's why people always say, "I got a new digital camera" instead of "I got a new camera."

Good luck, but above all, have fun!

[SkipD]

It looks nice, but the film strip pictured is actually motion picture film and it is easily recognized as that by anybody who is in the know. The giveaway is the orientation of the image frames. The images on 35mm still camera film are longer in the direction of the strip of film, not across the film like the image you have.

Try looking for something like a classic view camera on a tripod or something else that hints at portrait type photography work instead of movies.

[20droger]

Too anal, even for me. I would leave the film strip as it is. It does a beautiful job of melding with the "Ph" in "Photography."

If anyone "in the know" points out it's movie film, tell 'em , "No, it's half-frame 35mm."