My “brief” was to name Suntory’s U.S. entry in the ultra-premium vodka market and write its initial brand story.
My own goals were: a genuine Japanese word with good graphic design potential; it needed to be easy for English speakers to pronounce (and remember); and I wanted to at least nod at Suntory’s commitment to sustainability initiatives and their sponsorship of the fine arts.
“AO” was my own favorite of the ten names I proposed. I was intrigued by the idea that the word came from a time when the Japanese language made no distinction between the colors green and blue. And by how the word had evolved. In use today it continues to have archaic poetic connotations (ancient forests and the sea are both “Ao”), while also performing more contemporary tasks (like describing the color of traffic signals and denoting a grade of soft raw steel used for handmade kitchen cutlery).
And of course nothing’s wrong with it looking awfully like a triangle next to a circle.
