Are you familiar with Idealist.org? I was just working on creating names when the word “idealist” popped into my head and I remembered what an inspiring organization this is. It’s basically a directory for people who want to make the world a better place; it connects people with volunteer opportunities and jobs in the non-profit sector. In short, it’s great.

More important (I kid… or do I?), it has an awesome name. I crush hard on this name. It’s a list of ideas – an idea list! – for idealists. A clever name with two totally appropriate, descriptive meanings that doesn’t sound forced? Yes. From this Name-caller’s perspective, this is as good as a name can get.

I just went to the website to see how Idealist has been doing since my unfortunate two-year hiatus from using the site, and I found a number of changes that were implemented in 2010. Functionally, there are some great updates to make connecting people and organizations easier than ever. But design-wise, I was a teensy bit disappointed with the updated wordmark. Take a look at the before and after:

The clever name was highlighted nicely in the previous incarnation through smart use of color. The “idea list” meaning was made evident through the color shift, but the “idealist” meaning was also given importance by using blue and green, similar colors, to tie the two parts together. This was clearly an intentional move and worked quite well. Now, there is still a bit of a color shift going on in the middle of “idealist” in the new version, but it’s extremely subtle. On the website itself, there is no color shift at all in the treatment of the name.

Of course brands need to evolve. Maybe I’m just having a little trouble accepting change. After all, the double meaning is still there, and it’s still one of the best names out there. But I sure did like the cooperation between the name itself and the design in that old wordmark.

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