We get it.
Naming is comforting.
It gives things shape. It makes ideas feel real.
It signals to others that something is happening.
But sometimes, naming too early is not about clarity — it is about control.
At The Unhinged Dept., we often meet clients in that in-between space.
The idea is alive, but it is fragile. It is raw. Unrefined.
Still discovering what it wants to be.
And already, someone is asking what to call it.
It sounds harmless.
But the question has weight.
Because once you name something, you begin to define it.
And once you define it, you narrow it.
The Illusion of Certainty
We live in a culture that rushes to package things.
Put it in a deck. Give it a name. Pitch it. Sell it.
But some of the most meaningful ideas we have worked on started unnamed.
Unnamed, but not unfocused.
Unbranded, but deeply intentional.
They had time to be questioned.
Time to get messy.
Time to breathe.
The name came later — when the thing had earned it.
Why This Matters
Because naming is not just a creative exercise.
It is an act of shaping reality.
A name carries tone. Perspective. Intention.
It signals what something is — and just as often, what it is not.
If you name a thing too soon, you might miss what it was trying to become.
You might miss the deeper need behind the project.
The part that had not fully surfaced yet.
And that is the part that often holds the real value.
Let the Work Speak First
At The Unhinged Dept., our job is not to decorate the unknown.
Our job is to understand it.
To hold space while the idea forms.
To pull it apart gently, and piece it back together with care.
To resist the pressure to package too early.
We are not afraid of the in-between.
We know how to work with ambiguity.
We know how to move forward without rushing the reveal.
Because when we do arrive at a name — a real one — it carries truth.
Not just taste.
What We Ask Instead
Instead of “What should we call this?”
Ask:
- What is this trying to solve?
- What kind of shift does this create for our people?
- How does this idea want to be experienced?
- What do we not yet understand about it?
Then let the answers rise slowly.
Let the work reveal its own name.
Final Thought
Naming is a milestone. Not a starting point.
And the best ideas — the ones with staying power — are the ones that were allowed to become something before being told what they were.
So if you are in the early stages, give your project the respect of patience.
It does not need a name yet.
It needs understanding.
And that is where The Unhinged Dept. begins.