Name my app
March 17, 2016 9:05 AM Subscribe
I'm developing a vocabulary learning/practicing app for iOS. Please help me come up with a kick-ass name.
Here are some features of the app, which won't be free but will be low cost (and may eventually have a companion Web version):
- Gesture-based navigation (similar to Clear), which means mostly swiping, pinching, and tapping, and very few buttons. The advantages of this type of UI/UX are that it leaves more space for content and also is a very efficient and natural-feeling way to navigate through screens once you get used to it.
- Five "canned" lists that have been meticulously compiled (adult, older teen, younger teen, tween, and kid), and users can make their own lists too of course. The adult and older teen lists contain about 2,000 words each, and the other three lists contain about 600 words each.
- Extremely customizable - users can add images and sketches (created in-app) to definitions to help them remember the meaning of words, and they can also modify definitions, add notes, add/edit example sentences, indicate other words they conflate with certain words, etc.
- Powerful quiz/review functionality - users can do exercises in many different ways, such as guessing words from definitions, images, sketches, etc., or do it the other way around. And they can limit exercises to word filters that they create by assigning designations to words, such as still learning, already learned, and three other labels that they can use however they want (for example, they could assign one label to words that are particular hard for them to remember, and a label to words that are particularly interesting or important to them, etc.).
Coming up with a name is always hard, not only because the meaning and feel of the name is important but also because so many names are already used by existing apps. This is especially true for apps related to "words" because there are both a lot of vocabulary apps and a lot of word game apps (Googling name + "app" usually quickly reveals whether the name is already used by an app).
Ideally I'd like to have a name that conveys a sense of the app being interesting and powerful. Equally importantly, I'd like the name to feel fresh if not unique. Word-related apps that use words like "power" are just really boring and don't stand out at all.
I'll probably also develop a similar app that is for phrases and expressions, so the names should probably be in this format:
(Name) Vocab(ulary): Words
(Name) Vocab(ulary): Phrases & Expressions
(Possibly hyphen/dash instead of colon)
The reason for including Vocab or Vocabulary in the name is because apps seem to market themselves better when the names include a clear indication of what the app is for.
Thank you!
Here are some features of the app, which won't be free but will be low cost (and may eventually have a companion Web version):
- Gesture-based navigation (similar to Clear), which means mostly swiping, pinching, and tapping, and very few buttons. The advantages of this type of UI/UX are that it leaves more space for content and also is a very efficient and natural-feeling way to navigate through screens once you get used to it.
- Five "canned" lists that have been meticulously compiled (adult, older teen, younger teen, tween, and kid), and users can make their own lists too of course. The adult and older teen lists contain about 2,000 words each, and the other three lists contain about 600 words each.
- Extremely customizable - users can add images and sketches (created in-app) to definitions to help them remember the meaning of words, and they can also modify definitions, add notes, add/edit example sentences, indicate other words they conflate with certain words, etc.
- Powerful quiz/review functionality - users can do exercises in many different ways, such as guessing words from definitions, images, sketches, etc., or do it the other way around. And they can limit exercises to word filters that they create by assigning designations to words, such as still learning, already learned, and three other labels that they can use however they want (for example, they could assign one label to words that are particular hard for them to remember, and a label to words that are particularly interesting or important to them, etc.).
Coming up with a name is always hard, not only because the meaning and feel of the name is important but also because so many names are already used by existing apps. This is especially true for apps related to "words" because there are both a lot of vocabulary apps and a lot of word game apps (Googling name + "app" usually quickly reveals whether the name is already used by an app).
Ideally I'd like to have a name that conveys a sense of the app being interesting and powerful. Equally importantly, I'd like the name to feel fresh if not unique. Word-related apps that use words like "power" are just really boring and don't stand out at all.
I'll probably also develop a similar app that is for phrases and expressions, so the names should probably be in this format:
(Name) Vocab(ulary): Words
(Name) Vocab(ulary): Phrases & Expressions
(Possibly hyphen/dash instead of colon)
The reason for including Vocab or Vocabulary in the name is because apps seem to market themselves better when the names include a clear indication of what the app is for.
Thank you!
RapidVocab
It may also be of use to consider what you want the app display name to be on device since you have a limited number of characters to use there.
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:22 AM on March 17, 2016
It may also be of use to consider what you want the app display name to be on device since you have a limited number of characters to use there.
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:22 AM on March 17, 2016
I am an iOS developer and I just want to mention that the #1 thing you should be thinking about is including relevant keywords in your app name. Keywords in your app name give you way more juice than the list of keywords you provide for the app. If your name includes "Vocabulator" etc. but not "Vocabulary" that is like throwing away free advertising.
You can have a successful app without having good keywords in your name, but these days that usually requires having an advertising budget.
posted by insoluble uncertainty at 9:32 AM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
You can have a successful app without having good keywords in your name, but these days that usually requires having an advertising budget.
posted by insoluble uncertainty at 9:32 AM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kindall at 9:09 AM on March 17, 2016