Many people have asked us where the name 108 ideaspace came from.  The truth is that naming an organization is actually quite challenging – think of the constraints:

1) It must represent the organization’s culture and way of doing business.

2) It must be memorable

3) It must mean good things phonetically, and it can’t translate into something “bad” in another language

4) No one else can have the name: it must be original.  (NUANS search, anyone?)

5) The domain name must be available.  And similar ones need to be available as well.

6) The profile names in various Social Media sites must be available.

7) It must be easily transfered into a logo.

8) Probably most importantly, the principals must actually like the name.

So where did our name come from?  We used our NAME process, where we look deeply into names that represent our brand.  We ended up with a few that we really liked, and began the “what do you think” process with friends, family and clients.  We also ended up doing significant internet and legal research to make sure that the name was unique and not subject to challenge.

What does 108 ideaspace mean?  Stay tuned for the detailed answer (108 ideas…) but here is one take: the name represented our culture of innovation, knowledge transfer, and collaboration with our clients. As so much of our work is based on thought-leadership and creativity, ideaspace was where it all happened.  Why 108?  Again, stay tuned, but here are a few ideas:  It is related to the golden ratio in architecture.  It is an important mathematical number (1^1 * 2^2 * 3^3=108).  It is important in eastern religions.  And our first Toronto office address was 108 Dundas St West, Suite 201.

What does 108 mean to you?