After going round in circles trying to think of a blog/business name, I was inspired to do a poll by Amy L Sauder’s post where she got people to vote for the title of her book.
She wrote about how the comments people wrote in response to possible titles helped her choose the title.
I thought this was a great idea, so I did a poll in three groups I’m part of. One is an international junk journal group, one is an Australian junk journal group, and one is my group of blog readers.
At first it was a bit confusing because each group had a majority vote for a different name. The international group liked Journal Heaven, the Aussie group like Junk Journal Treasures, and the blog group like Sapphire Slippers.
But across the three groups, Willow was the clear second winner. And when I read the comments, the people who chose Willow mentioned the vibe I was after and they resonated with my willow story.
This showed me Willow had to be in the name because it connected with these words I was after: magical, wonder, beauty, whimsical, special memories, home. This is what journals are all about for me.
Unfortunately, Willow was already taken. People gave me lots of suggestions. One that I really loved was Blue Willow but it was taken. As was Willow Pages and other variations.
But one lady came up with Willowbound and I loved it. I tested it out with the three groups via another poll, and 62 out of 83 people voted for it. Their comments also showed me it was the winner. One in particular was the clincher: ‘Willowbound gives me a unique feeling since it isn’t a real word. I like it, it opens the imagination.’
I wanted unique and I definitely wanted imagination. The willow I played under was a place where I dreamed up fantasy lands and became a princess acting out my own stories. It was a place of imagination and that’s what a journal is for me too. A journal can be anything you want it to be.
So Willowbound Journals it is – yay!!!!
I’ve changed my blog and social media accounts to Willowbound Journals and I’m getting ready for an official launch.
I’m in the process of designing a logo. Here’s a bit of an inside look at some designs I’ve been working on:
I’m going to have a simple wreath of willow leaves with a ‘W’ in the middle.
I was testing out lots of ways to write the letter. I showed them to the junk journal groups and they helped me decide.
The winning ‘W’ is the one in bold:
This is exciting because it’s actually a free font that is also available on WordPress. It’s Tangerine.
I may change it later, but for now this is just something simple I can put on a business card.
I’m going to play around with colours and styles and might do another poll for the logo.
Anyway, just wanted to keep you updated. The official launch will happen as soon as I get this logo done and do some things with my shop and blog.
I’d like to get a giveaway ready for the launch and put all my journals on sale to help me get started. I also want to have some freebies available and just need to work out how I want to organise my blog with this new direction I’m taking.
As mentioned in a previous post, I want to start doing regular interviews, tutorials, giveaways, journal process posts, and general thoughts on writing, creating, and memory keeping.
I hope to create a blog space that is full of inspiration, beauty, creativity, and encouragement.
