How to choose a good name for your Citizen Science app

Tuesday, 14 January 2020 15:39

When choosing a name for your Citizen Science app or a project, you're creating a public appearance. You want to make it stand out, and you want people to remember it. Here's a short guideline on how to best achieve precisely that.

What is a good project name?

Imagine, you're talking to a friend on the phone, and he or she tells you about a new app or a new project. Thirty minutes later, you can still remember its name, so you search and find it online- this in a nutshell what a good name for project can achieve. In a best case scenario, a name for an interactive Citizen Science app is short, on-point and communicates a first impression of the project itself. For most Citizen Scientists, reviewers or stakeholders, the project name and the logo is the first thing they will see about your project - its one of the major cornerstones of a project and can make the difference for a successful project in public dissemination or funding. Here is some helpful advice for finding a well working name for your Citizen Science App:

✪ Keep it short and sweet!

A short name is always easier to remember than a long, elaborate one. Combined with the right logo – the first thing most people usually notice - your app or project will stand out as unique and worth remembering.
Ideally, your brand's name and logo already create an image that takes your audience/customers in the desired direction.

✪ Make it sound well

The aesthetic quality of the name and how it is pronounced is important. It is also always good to check if the word or the combination of words are not meaning something completely different or rude in other major languages - even phonetically. We experience our world by association and connections, which can have an influence on deciding wether a name is good or bad. 

✪ Tell a story!

Another essential instrument to further present your brand is the sub-line. This short sentence usually contains an engaging description of what your project/app is all about. The flow of words ideally creates another positive image and invites your audience/your customers/ app users to further engage with your brand/project.

✪ Keep the flow!

Imagine again that phone conversation with your friend. He or she tells you about an observation he or she has made, and you reply: "you should post that on [insert APPNAME here].." Your response comes like it's the most natural thing, the app's name rolls off your tongue easily, as if it's always been here, like an old friend.
That's the effect you want to achieve with the name of any participatory app.

Example logos / names for Citizen Science Apps we created:

Citizen Science App Logos by SPOTTERON

Check out the Page: Media & Logos in the Feature section for more Information

We're here to help!

Here at SPOTTERON, we're happy to assist you with finding the best name for your Citizen Science App and create a custom logo if desired, and therefore make your project stand out! Contact us here!

 

 

Projects & Apps open for Co-Use on SPOTTERON

App Icon
Social initiative Data Collection App
SPOTTERON

ArtSpots is a community-built art atlas. Through the App, people interested in various art forms like street art, historical or contemporary art, photography, architecture, and more can put their art observations on the map and discover art spots in their city or while travelling. The art community in the App allows exchanging with other like-minded people and contributing to a worldwide art collection.
Learn more about
ArtSpots
App Icon
Horizon Europe Citizen Science App

With the COSEA App, Citizen Scientists can observe marine environments, document coastal habitats or species, and report on pollution, infrastructure and the blue economy. Their contributions on the map and activity in the app will help scientists better understand the impacts and drivers of marine factors to protect and foster a healthy relationship between humans and seas.

Learn more about
COSEA | Collaboration for Effective Sea Action
App Icon
Environmental Citizen Science, Data Collection App
SPOTTERON

NatureSpots is a non-commercial and free project to discover nature together. In the app, nature photos and sightings of animals, plants or mushrooms can be shared with the community on the map. The app is a new initiative for observing nature and taking part is very simple and straightforward. The app is free of advertising, does not track users and takes digital privacy seriously.

Learn more about
NatureSpots
App Icon
Social initiative Community Engagement App
SPOTTERON

The new citizen participation uses "Citizen Science" in their hometown and nationwide to get User's feedback on places. As a result, citizens are empowered to become active in a city worth living in to collect and share data themselves and to interact with scientists. This enables them to recognize the consequences of sealing, heat, water shortages, and a lack of biodiversity, and generally, how places in their own environment affect us all.

Learn more about
CIVO Citizen Voice
App Icon
Horizon 2020 Invasive Species Monitoring App

The IPM-Popillia Horizon 2020 project aims to address the challenge of a new risk to plant health in Europe's agriculture and food safety: the invasion of the Japanese Beetle, Popillia japonica. This invasive species was introduced accidentally to mainland Europe in 2014 and can quickly spread by transportation and trade. As a species with a wide range of feeding plants, P. japonica threatens the entire agricultural sector, urban landscapes, and biodiversity in invaded areas.

Learn more about
IPM Popillia | Integrated Pest Management of the Japanese Beetle
App Icon
Environmental Community Engagement App

Fridays for Future see itself as a horizontal, grassroots grassroots movement that acts apolitically and refers to science for the facts. To engage the global population more, this app was developed using SPOTTERON. The aim is to find out how the population perceives the climate crisis and which positive and negative emotions are associated with specific topics related to biodiversity and climate crisis.

Learn more about
FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE - Climate App

Are you interested in co-using existing Apps? Get in Contact!

Get in contact for co-use here

 

 

Short News

  • New study from BiciZen project: "BiciZen: Lessons in the Development of a Crowdsourcing Mobile App to Make Cities More Bikeable" published in Journal of Participatory Research Methods. More studies available under the publication page here.

    in Shortnews
  • Roadkill project has made wonderful short videos for the citizen scientists! The videos include the Roadkill App functions regarding how to confirm & comment on the spots and how to best take the photos for the project. The videos (in German) are available in the "Österreich forscht" blog here. 

    in Shortnews

Newsletter

Please enable the javascript to submit this form