Design & Brand Lock In

It's a bit grand to call mine a brand, but every journey starts with a dream 😄

More importantly, it's better to take action than have to ideas that never make it out of your head and on to the page; but when taking action, even with some planning, choices can get 'locked in'. You might find that your choices are limited by 3rd party sites and services when trying to rejuvenate and restructure your project.

Zazzle stores are one such example. At the time of writing, if you fall out of love with your store name (and I often wrestle with regret over my choices 😄), while you can change it on the surface, you're stuck with the old URL which won't match the new name; confusing for your visitors.

You can't move products from one store to another. You might decide that a product deserves it's own store and spin offs, but you can't move it complete with it's stats, sales and the improved place it's earned in the marketplace; you have to make a new version. Would you delete the established, successful one to tidy up your stores?

More broadly, it's a big undertaking to change a name if you're deep into your project: Store names and logos, public usernames and email addresses, URLs, social media accounts and blogs are all potentially tied in.

In summary:

1. Try to research the limitations of 3rd party sites. Can you change all public facing names and URLs?
2. Keep an updated checklist of associated accounts you will have to change.
3. Don't let the above stop you from taking action!

Oh and 4. Embrace that locked in name. Here's the insprational Winged Noodle mug you didn't know you needed:

In The Winged Noodle We Trust Mug
by NoodleWings

Are you stuck with a brand or username that you've had to learn to love? Tell us about it in the comments.